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THE 


THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION,  IN    HISTORY 
AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP 


WHAT  THE  RACE  HAS  DONE  AND  IS  DOING 
IN 

ARMS,  ARTS,  LETTERS,  THE  PULPIT,  THE  FORUM,  THE  SCHOOL 
THE  MARTS  OF  TRADE 

AND 

WITH    THOSE    MIGHTY   WEAPONS    IN    THE    BATTLE    OF    LIFE 
THE  SHOVEL  AND  THE  HOE 


A    MESSAGE    TO   ALL  MEN   THAT  HE   IS  IN    THE   WAY    TO 
SOLVE  THE  RACE  PROBLEM  FOR  HIMSELF 


BY 

REV.  J.    J.    PIPKIN 

WITH  INTRODUCTION  BY 

GEN.    JOHN     B.     GORDON 

Former  Major-Generat  Confederate  Array,  United  States  Senator  from    Georgia*, 
Ex-Commander  United  Confederate  Veterans, 
Author  "  War  Reminiscences,"  Etc. 


COPYRIGHT.  1902.  BY  N.  D.  THOMPSON  PUBLISHING  COMPAN* 


12. 


NOT  A   TERM  OF  REPROACH. 


Supposing  that  this  term  (negro)  was  originally  used  as  a 
phrase  of  contempt,  is  it  not  with  us  to  elevate  it?  Hozv  often 
has  it  not  happened  that  names  originally  given  in  reproach 
have  been  afterward  adopted  as  a  title  of  honor  by  those  against 
whom  they  were  used,  as  Methodists,  Quakers,  etc.  ?  But  as  a 
proof  that  no  unfavorable  signification  attached  to  the  word 
when  first  employed,  I  may  mention  that  long  before  the  slave 
trade  began  travelers  found  the  blacks  on  the  coast  of  Africa 
preferring  to  be  called  Negroes.  .  .  .  And  in  all  the  pre- 
slave  trade  literature  the  word  was  spelled  with  a  capital  N. 
It  was  the  slavery  of  the  blacks  that  brought  the  term  into  dis- 
repute and  now  that  slavery  is  abolished,  it  should  be  restored 
to  its  original  place  and  legitimate  use. 

— Dr.  Edward  W.  Blydcn. 


It  is  not  wise,  to  say  the  least,  for  intelligent  Negroes  in 
America  to  seek  to  drop  the  word  '  'Negro. ' '  It  is  a  good,  strong 
and  healthy  word,  and  ought  to  live.  It  should  be  covered  with 
glory:  let  Negroes  do  it.  — George  W.  Williams. 


1965217 


PREFACE. 


IN  RECENT  years  much  has  been  written  about  the  Negro 
— some  of  it  fanciful,  some  ill-considered,  some  malicious, 
and  some  utterly  fallacious,  misleading,  and  dangerous. 

It  is  a  deplorable  fact  that  notwithstanding  community  of 
interests  and  daily  association,  the  white  people  of  to-day  do 
not  fully  understand  the  negro,  and  are,  therefore,  too  ready 
to  adopt  opinions  and  entertain  feelings  that  are  dangerous 
to  his  peace  and  prejudicial  to  his  prosperity;  and  we  have 
sought  to  present  a  fund  of  information  which  will  lead  to  a 
better  understanding  and  make  for  the  lasting  good  of  both 
races.  To  the  fair-minded  white  man  and  woman  the  facts 
set  forth  in  ^his  volume  will  be  a  revelation,  and  induce  more 
liberal  views  as  to  the  Negro's  capabilities,  his  honorable 
ambition  to  improve,  his  enterprise,  and  his  remarkable 
progress. 

What  the  Negro  needs  is  encouragement  in  every  line  of 
lawful  endeavor,  all  the  aid  that  can  be  extended  to  him  by 
generous  whites  without  inducing  idleness,  an  open  recogni- 
tion of  whatever  manhood  he  evinces  in  the  inevitable  strug- 
gles of  the  poor  and  lowly,  and  the  arousing  of  renewed 
determination  to  do  his  part  in  the  uplifting  of  his  people. 
If  we  can  show  him  what  the  men  and  women  of  his  race 
have  achieved  in  the  past,  what  they  are  achieving  in  the 
present  under  circumstances  less  favorable  than  those  en- 
joyed by  the  dominant  race,  we  awaken  the  feeling  that  he 
too  ought  to  be  up  and  doing,  with  the  definite  and  noble 
aim  of  meeting  the  obligations  that  rest  upon  even  the 
humblest  citizen. 

The  author  is  a  Southern  man,  born  and  bred,  and  he  has 
been  subjected  to  all  the  influences  that  are  supposed  to 
breed  race  prejudice;  he  is  a  Democrat  of  the  old  school;  but 


PREFACE. 

in  the  name  of  white  men  North,  South,  East  and  West,  he 
protests  against  everything  that  tends  to  degrade  the  Negro, 
and  either  rob  him  of  self-respect  or  excite  his  animosity. 
We  write  as  a  follower  of  the  Great  Master  who  taught  good- 
will to  all  men,  as  a  minister  of  the  gospel,  as  a  patriotic 
American  citizen.  We  endeavor  to  show: 

That  in  the  past  the  Negro  has  achieved  much,  in  divers 
fields,  to  vindicate  his  claim  to  character  and  ability  and 
mark  him  as  a  man; 

That,  considering  the  circumstances  in  which  he  found 
himself  when  freedom  came  to  him,  and  the  obstacles  he  has 
had  to  overcome,  his  progress  has  been  remarkable; 

That  there  are  mighty  agencies  at  work — the  school,  the 
church,  and  promising  fields  of  labor — still  further  to  pro- 
mote his  advancement;  and 

That  for  him  also  there  is  the  possibility  of  a  great  future. 

Our  material  has  been  gathered  from  many  sources,  and 
we  are  under  obligations  to  so  many  who  have  aided  and 
encouraged  us  that  we  forbear  to  mention  names,  lest  we 
inadvertently  omit  some  and  so  seem  to  do  injustice.  To  all 
we  tender  acknowledgments  and  sincere  thanks. 

MART,  TEXAS.  J.  J.  PlPKIN. 


INTRODUCTION. 


N  ORDER  that  we  may  know  what  the  Negro  can 
do  and  become,  it  is  well  to  consider  what  he  has 
done  and  is  doing,  and  what  he  has  become  and  is 
becoming.  He  has  been  free  in  the  Southern  States 
now  more  than  the  third  of  a  century.  For  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years  he  worked  under  the  limitations  of  slav- 
ery and  became  under  humane  white  tutelage  the  most  obe- 
dient, patient  and  useful  servant  ever  known.  But  for  forty 
years  he  has  found  himself  outside  the  walls  of  bondage.  He 
has  been  hemmed  in  by  no  barriers  other  than  such  as  are 
placed  about  every  man  by  the  conditions  of  life.  During 
nearly  half  a  century  he  has  been  the  master  of  his  own  fate. 
By  a  decision,  fixed  forever  through  the  clash  of  contending 
armies  as  brave  as  ever  met  on  a  field  of  battle,  his  destiny 
was  taken  from  the  hands  of  his  former  master  and  placed 
in  his  own.  Through  a  generation  of  the  most  eventful 
time  in  the  history  of  the  world,  he  has  been  under  the 
necessity  of  making  his  own  way  in  the  presence  of  a  strong, 
conquering  race,  which  won  its  freedom  and  achieved  its 
civilization  in  the  struggle  and  conquest  of  thousands  of 
years. 

We  are  at  a  sufficient  distance  from  the  war  to  pause  and 
take  stock  of  the  colored  man's  achievements.  What  use 
has  he  made  of  the  liberty  which  came  to  him  as  an  incident 
of  the  great  struggle?  What  progress  has  he  made  in  solving 
the  problem  of  himself  and  his  future?  What  data  has  he 
furnished,  as  to  what  he  has  done  and  learned  and  become, 
upon  which  a  reliable  opinion  can  be  based  concerning  his 
future  career?  Has  he  moved  forward  or  gone  backward? 
Has  he  furnished  grounds  for  hope,  or  reasons  to  despair  of 

vii 


vjii  INTRODUCTION. 

him?  Where  does  he  stand  at  the  beginning  of  the  Twenti- 
eth Century? 

This  book,  to  which  I  am  asked  to  write  the  introduction, 
is  a  record  of  the  Negro's  doings.  It  is  not  a  work  of  fine- 
spun theories  on  the  race  question,  but  it  is  a  summary  of 
the  actual  accomplishments  and  attainments  of  the  colored 
man.  We  have  a  representation  of  what  the  Negro  has 
wrought  with  his  hand  and  thought  with  his  brain  and 
aspired  to  in  his  heart.  We  have  brought  to  our  atten- 
tion what  the  Negro  has  done  as  a  farmer,  as  a  mechanic, 
as  a  doctor,  as  a  lawyer,  as  a  teacher,  as  a  literary 
man,  as  a  poet,  as  a  preacher  and  as  a  president  and 
organizer  of  great  industrial  colleges.  No  such  an  all- 
round  survey  of  the  Negro's  work,  has,  according  to  my 
knowledge,  been  so  successfully  made  before.  The  circula- 
tion of  the  book,  both  among  the  colored  people  and  the 
white  people,  will  do  good.  The  doctrine  here  taught,  by 
the  undoubted  testimony  of  facts,  is,  that  the  Negro,  in 
common  with  members  of  every  other  race,  must  work  out 
his  own  destiny.  All  that  the  white  man  can  do  for  him  is 
to  give  him  an  opportunity  and  a  fair  chance.  The  so- 
called  Negro  problem  has  loomed  so  prominently  in  public 
attention,  largely  because  other  than  colored  people  have, 
since  the  close  of  the  war,  been  trying  to  work  it  out.  Those 
who  have  religiously  taken  upon  themselves  the  self-ap- 
pointed task  of  working  out  the  Negro  problem,  have  seem- 
ingly proceeded  on  the  assumption  that  the  Negro  had 
neither  head  nor  hands  nor  individual  initiative.  If  that 
were  the  case,  all  the  doctrinaires  on  earth  could  never  work 
out  his  problem.  There  are  thousands  of  Negroes  all  over 
this  country,  but  mostly  in  the  South,  who  are  neither  prob- 
lems to  themselves,  nor  to  their  white  neighbors.  They  are 
such  as  save  their  earnings,  buy  homes  for  their  families, 
and  make  themselves  useful  and  upright  citizens.  * 

There  are  farmers  whose  only  problem  is  that  of  seeing 
how  many  bales  of  cotton  they  can  make  each  acre  of  land 


INTRODUCTION.  lxv 

they  cultivate  produce.  Their  problem  is  with  the  weeds 
and  the  grass,  which,  by  honest  toil,  they  seek  to  keep  from, 
choking  to  death  their  young  plants.  Theorists  have  been 
trying  to  solve  the  colored  problem  at  the  points  of  their 
pens.  This  is  the  ink  solution.  The  Negroes  themselves 
have  gone  about  solving  it  at  the  points  of  their  scooter 
plows,  which  they  are  sticking  deep  down  in  their  fields 
for  bread  and  the  comforts  of  life.  This  is  the  practical  solu- 
tion. There  are  blacksmiths  who  are  helping  to  solve  the 
Negro  problem  between  the  hammer  and  the  anvil  by  turn- 
ing iron  into  horseshoes  so  as  to  enable  them  to  buy  com- 
fortable homes  for  their  families,  and  besides  lay  up  good- 
sized  bank  accounts.  There  are  teachers  who  are  aiding  to 
solve  the  problem  in  the  school-room  by  communicating 
knowledge  to  children  so  completely  that  most  Negro  boys 
and  girls  in  the  entire  country  can  read  and  write.  There 
are  presidents  of  colleges,  like  Booker  T.  Washington,  who 
have  done  so  much  toward  the  solution  of  the  problem  that 
the  institutions  over  which  they  preside  are  regarded  by  all 
the  people,  white  and  black,  as  unmixed  blessings  to  the 
country.  The  difficulties  of  the  colored  problem  grow  less 
and  less  by  all  the  corn  the  Negro  produces,  by  all  the  wag- 
ons he  makes,  by  all  the  schools  he  teaches,  and  by  every  for- 
ward step  he  takes  in  becoming  an  industrious,  productive 
and  useful  worker  in  the  community.  This  book,  which  is  a 
kind  of  cloth  and  paper  edition  of  a  Negro  World's  Expo- 
sition, comes  at  an  opportune  time.  While  we  cannot  see 
all  that  the  colored  man  has  produced  brought  together  here 
in  one  place,  as  at  the  Columbian  Dream  City  in  Chicago 
in  1893,  and  at  the  great  Exposition  in  Atlanta,  we  do  have 
what  he  has  done,  described  and  set  forth  in  such  a  way  as 
to  convince  us  that  he  has  made  remarkable  progress  since 
the  close  of  the  Civil  War. 

Between  the  eruption  of  Vesuvius,  which  destroyed  Pom- 
peii, and  the  awful  fires  of  Mt.  Pelee,  which  blotted  the  life 
out  of  St.  Pierre,  there  are,  as  measured  by  time,  1,823 


,,.  INTRODUCTION. 

% 

years;  but,  measured  by  the  progress  of  the  human  race 
between  the  two  awful  events,  the  distance  is  infinitely 
greater.  When  death  and  silence  came  to  Pompeii  the  sen- 
sation was  local.  It  was  days,  perhaps  weeks,  before  the 
news  traveled  even  to  Rome.  But  the  flame  that  flashed 
thirty  thousand  souls  into  eternity  in  St.  Pierre  instanta- 
neously lit  up  the  world.  The  furious  blast  which  in -a 
moment  consumed  a  city  in  a  tropical  sea  was  felt  in  every 
country  on  the  planet.  This  illustrates  the  difference  be- 
tween the  world  as  it  is  in  our  day  and  the  world  as  it  was 
in  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era.  Then  the  earth  was 
large.  The  race  was  divided  by  mountains  and  seas  and 
continents  of  distance,  and  still  more  widely  divided  by 
mountains  of  indifference  and  seas  of  ignorance  and  conti- 
nents of  indolence.  Now  the  world  is  small.  The  race  is 
united  from  St.  Petersburg  to  Pekiu  and  from  Melbourne  to 
Venice  by  a  common  commerce  and  by  the  invisible  ties  of 
a  common  sympathy.  When  the  cry  of  distress  is  heard  in 
the  island  of  Martinique,  shiploads  of  provisions  and  medi- 
cines start  from  every  neighboring  port  to  relieve  it .  Separate 
threads  of  peoples,  not  yet  woven  into  that  universal  texture  we 
call  humanity,  are  destined,  in  the  coming  century,  to  be 
caught  up  by  the  great  loom  of  Providence  and  drawn  into 
the  palpitating  fabric.  Africa  has  been  called  the  ' '  Dark  Con- 
tinent," because  it  is  least  known.  Here  is  a  country  more 
than  four  thousand  miles  in  length  and  four  thousand  in 
breadth,  with  an  area  of  twelve  million  square  miles  and  a 
population  of  nearly  two  hundred  million,  which,  until  1884, 
when  the  so-called  "scramble  for  Africa"  began,  has  in  the 
main  been  lying  outside  the  current  of  human  history.  The 
work  of  incorporating  Africa  into  the  trend  of  the  world's 
events  has  been  slow.  Da  Gama  doubled  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope  in  the  fifteenth  century,  but  most  of  the  work  of  ex- 
ploration was  done  in  the  nineteenth  century.  Large  areas 
of  land  in  Africa  are  now  coming  under  the  control  of  the 
European  powers.  The  English,  the  Germans,  the  Belgians, 


INTRODUCTION.  x{ 

the  Italians  and  the  French  are  extending  their  spheres  of 
influence,  and  it  is  only  a  question  of  a  few  generations  when 
the  whole  continent  will  be  covered  and  embraced  by  the 
general  network  of  railroads  and  telegraph'  systems  which 
bind  into  one  neighborhood  the  other  grand  divisions  of  the 
globe. 

It  is  a  remarkable  historical  fact  that  Africa  should  become 
accessible  to  the  movements  of  civilization  just  at  this  partic- 
ular period  in  the  march  of  events.  The  explorers  have,  in 
a  general  way,  accomplished  their  work.  Through  their 
labors  the  wonders  and  wealth  and  area  of  the  "Dark  Conti- 
nent" have  been  made  known.  He^e  are  mountains  filled 
with  coal,  and  iron,  and  lead,  and  gold,  and  silver.  Here  is 
a  soil  rich  and  abundant  enough  to  produce  food  sufficient  to 
feed  the  teeming  millions  of  the  globe.  Is  it  not  wonderful 
that  knowledge  of  the  untold  resources  of  Africa  should  come 
to  the  world  just  at  a  time  when  billion-dollar  trusts  are  be- 
ing formed — at  a  time  when  the  captains  of  industry  are 
learning  to  unite  their  uncounted  millions  to  build  railroads, 
bridges,  electric  light  plants,  iron  foundries  and  cities,  with- 
out respect  to  state  or  national  boundaries — rat  a  time  when 
great  capitalists  of  the  West  are  negotiating  with  the  gov- 
ernments of  the  Bast  for  all  kinds  of  concessions?  Is  it  not 
still  more  wonderful,  that,  just  at  this  time,  when  Africa 
is  opened  up  to  civilization,  and  capital  has  been  accumu- 
lated sufficient  to  develop  it,  there  should  be  found  in  the 
United  States  8,840,789  Negroes  many  of  whom  are  already 
trained  in  the  language,  arts,  institutions  and  laws  of  the 
most  universally  educated  and  enlightened  country  in  the 
world?  It  is  more  like  romance  than  cold  historical  truth. 
Africa  is  the  natural  home  of  the  Negro.  He  can  endure  its 
climate  and  the  trials  incidental  to  changing  it  from  a  wilder- 
ness into  a  cultivated  continent  better  than  individuals  of  any 
other  race.  In  America,  where  he  has  been  living  and  ad- 
vancing for  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  in  slavery  and  forty 
years  in  freedom,  he  has  acquired  education  and  property 


and  is  acquiring  self-control.  Think  of  the  call  that  is  soon 
to  come  from  Africa,  not  only  for  missionaries  and  preach- 
ers, but  for  teachers,  farmers,  mechanics,  carpenters,  civil 
engineers,  locomotive  engineers,  railway  conductors,  mer- 
chants, doctors,  lawyers  and  workers  in  every  other  trade 
useful  and  ornamental  under  heaven.  Teachers,  lawyers, 
judges  and  merchants  are  now  going  from  the  ranks  of 
our  white  population  to  the  Philippines,  but  the  climate 
is  hard  on  them  and  it  is  only  by  the  strictest  attention 
to  the  rules  of  health  that  even  the  robust  can  live  there 
at  all.  But  in  Africa  the  colored  man  is  on  his  native 
heath,  and  there  he  is  destined  to  play  an  important  part 
in  the  development  of  the  country.  The  Negroes  resent 
the  idea  of  wholesale  deportation  to  Africa,  and  they  are 
right.  They  have  helped  to  clear  the  forests  and  produce 
the  wealth  of  this  country,  and  they  have  the  right  won  by 
three  hundred  years  of  service  to  live  here.  But  under 
the  leadership  of  such  men  as  Bishop  Turner  they  will 
migrate  in  constantly  increasing  numbers  and  become  im- 
portant factors  in  the  redemption  and  development  of  the 
"Dark  Continent. "  The  men  who  make  history  are  the 
men  who  become  great.  No  one  can  attain  to  breadth 
and  height  and  weight  who  is  occupied  in  thought  and 
heart  with  trifles.  Elihu  Burritt  was  a  blacksmith,  but 
he  was  at  the  same  time  a  student,  and  while  his  arm  wielded 
the  hammer  his  mind  was  with  Plato  and  Aristotle.  Carey 
was  a  shoemaker,  but,  while  he  pulled  thread  through  leather 
with  his  hands,  his  brain  was  busy  with  great  schemes  for 
the  elevation  of  the  Hindoos.  The  opening  in  Africa  pre- 
sents to  the  Negro  a  great  opportunity  to  make  history. 
Europe,  the  natural  home  of  the  Anglo-Saxons,  is  already 
made,  and  they  have  no  natural  new  world  to  conquer. 
Africa  is  virgin  territory.  There,  with  few  exceptions, 
things  are  as  fresh  as  when  the  world  was  first  turned  over 
to  Adam  when  he  took  up  his  abode  in  the  Garden  of  Eden. 
In  the  process  of  making  Africa  the  Negro  should  make  him- 
self, as  the  Dutch  made  themselves  by  changing  Holland 


IN  7  MOD  UCTION.  XI  ii 

from  a  sea  of  water  into  a  land  of  beauty.  Through  the 
conflicts  of  Marengo,  Austerlitz,  Jena  and  Auerstadt,  a  poor 
Corsican  boy  was  turned  into  the  great  Napoleon.  So  the 
Negro  race  must  find  itself  and  its  place  in  the  world 
through  what  it  accomplishes. 


ATLANTA,  GA. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


PAGE. 
INTRODUCTION.     By  Gen.  J.  B.  Gordon vii 

CHAPTER  I. 
The  Negro  in   Revelation 33 

CHAPTER  II. 
THE;  NEGRO  AS  A  SOLDIER. 

I.  Some  in  Foreign  Countries— II.  In  the  United  States — Capt.  P.  J.  Bowen 
— P.  L.  Carmouche — William  Blackwell „ 39 

CHAPTER  III. 
THE  NEGRO  IN  POLITICS,  JOURNALISM  AND  THE  LECTURE  FIELD. 

The  Bruces — Edmund  H.  Deas — Alonzo  J.  Rausier — James  T.  Rapier — Nick 
Chiles— Rev.  C.  P.  T.  White— Colored  Newspapers— Sojourner  Truth- 
Frederick  Douglass 69 

CHAPTER  IV. 
THE  NEGRO  IN  L/AW,  MEDICINE  AND  DIVINITY. 

Narcissa  West — The  African  Zion  Methodist  Episcopal  Church— 'Rev.  John 
Jasper — Bishops  Francis  Burns  and  John  Wright  Roberts — Rev.  W.  J. 
Howard— John  A.  Whitted,  D.  D.-J.  W.  Kirby,  D.  D.— Henry  M.  Turner— 
S.  N.  Vass,  D.  D. — Rev.  E.  P.  Johnson— The  African  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church— Bishop  Benjamin  T.  Tanner-Joseph  E.  Jones,  D.  D. — Miss  Emma 
B.  Delaney — Bishop  W.  J.  Gaines — Bishop  Abraham  Grant — The  Colored 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church— Rev.  Garnett  Russell  Waller — A.  R.  Griggs, 
D.  D.— Rev.  H.  N.  Bouey 81 

CHAPTER  V. 
THE  NEGRO  IN  LITERATURE  AND  THE  FINE  ARTS. 

Phillis  Wheatley — Paul  Laurence  Dunbar — James  D.  Corrothers — Charles  W. 
Chesnutt— Miss  Inez  C.  Parker— Miss  Effie  Waller 116 

CHAPTER  VI. 
THE  NEGRO  IN  BUSINESS. 

I.  Opening  Address  of  the  Hon.  Allen  D.  Candler,  Governor  of  Georgia — II. 
The  Meaning  of  Business — III.  The  Need  of  Negro  Merchants — IV.  Ne- 
gro Business  Men  of  Columbia,  South  Carolina— V.  The  Negro  Grocer 
—VI,  A  Negro  Co-operative  Foundry— Other  Business  Enterprises 133 

XV 


xvi  TABLE    OF    CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  VII. 
THE  NEGRO  IN  BUSINESS—  (Continued).  PAGE. 

Negro  Business  Men  by  States  —  Negro  Business  Men  by  Occupation—  Invest- 
ments in  Business  ..............................................................................................................  163 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
Thomas  Jefferson  and  the  Negro  Julius  Melbourn:  A  Remarkable  Incident  ......  201 

CHAPTER  IX. 
AMONG  THE  SOUTHERN  PEOPLE  THE  NEGRO  FINDS  His  BEST  FRIENDS. 

Letter  from  President  Cleveland  —  Letter  from  Clark  Howell,  Editor  of  the 
Atlanta  Constitution,  to  the  £Iew  York  World  —  Booker  T.  Washington's 
Address  at  the  Atlanta  Exposition  —  Henry  W.  Grady  on  the  Relations  of 
the  Southern  People  and  the  Negro  —  Grady  Discusses  the  Race  Problem 
and  the  Duty  of  North  and  South  —  Condition  of  the  Negro,  Past  and 
Present  —  The  Negro's  Needs—  The  Negro  and  the  Signs  of  Civilization  — 
The  Negro's  Part  in  the  South's  Upbuilding—  The  Negro  and  His  Relation 
to  the  South  —  The  "Ancient  Governor"  .........  _  ........................................................  207 

CHAPTER  X. 

INDUSTRIAL  TRAINING  AND  NEGRO  DEVELOPMENT. 
I.   Address  by  Booker  T.  Washington—  II.   Speech  by  Prof.  W.  H.  Councill  ...265 

CHAPTER  XI. 
TUSKEGEE  NORMAL  AND  INDUSTRIAL  INSTITUTE. 

I.  Character  of  the  School  and  What  It  Seeks  to  Do—  Summary  of  Work 
Done—  Booker  T.  Washington  Explains  to  a  Northern  Audience  His  Con- 
nection with  the  School  and  Notices  the  Relations  of  the  Races  in  the 
South  .....................................................................................................................................  29h 

CHAPTER  XII.  *%  * 

~ 

THE  COLLEGE-BRED  NEGRO. 


Scope  of  the  Inquiry—  Colleges  by  Groups  —  First  Negro  Graduate;  Number 
of  Negro  Graduates,  Etc.  —  Individual  Experiences  ..............................................  317 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
THE  COLLEGE-BRED  NEGRO  —  (Continued). 

Occupations,  Ownership]of  Property,  Etc.  —  Assessed  Valuation  of  Real  Estate 
Some  Opinions  on  the  Higher  Education  of  the  Negro  .......................................  349 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
HISTORY  OF  SOME  NEGRO  UNIVERSITIES. 

Shaw  University—  N.  F.  Roberts,  D.  D.—  Albert  W.  Pegues,  Ph.  D.—  Grace  J. 
Thompson  —  Roger  Williams  University  —  National  Baptist  Publishing  Board 
—  Meharry  Medical  College  —  Charles  Spencer  Dinkins,  D.  D.  --  Mrs. 
Daisy  Miller  Harvey—  John  Hope—  Joseph  A.  Booker,  D.  D.  —  Mrs.  Maria 
T.  Kenney  —  Howard  University  ..........  ..  ......................................................  ..  ................  387 


TABLE    OF    CONTENTS.  xvii 

CHAPTER  XV.  PAGE. 

SOME  NOTABLE  EDUCATORS  AND  THE  SCHOOLS  WITH  WHICH  THEY  HAVE 
BEEN  CONNECTED. 

John  Wesley  Hoffman— J.  D.  Coleman — C.  S.  Brown,  D.  D. — Enos  L.  Scruggs, 
D.  D. — Mrs.  Rachel  E.  Reeves  Robinson — Miss  Judith  L.  Chambers — 
Joshua  B.  Simpson— John  H.  Jackson— Mrs.  Hannah  Howell  Reddick— 
M.  W.  Reddick,  A.  M. — James  R.  I,.  Diggs  —James  Shelton  Hathaway — 
Miss  MaryKimble — Charles  I/.  Puree,  D.  D. — Eckstein  Norton  University 
—Edward  L,.  Blackshear,  B.  A.— B.  F.  Allen,  A.  B.,  A.  M.— W.  H.  Coun- 
cill— William  S.  Scarborough— Prof.  H.  E.  Archer 413 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
MISCELLANEOUS  MATTERS. 

Booker  T.  Washington  on  the  Negro  and  His  Economic  Value — Address  of 
Booker  T.  Washington  on  Receiving  the  Honorary  Degree  of  Master  of  Arts 
from  Harvard  University — Women  Who  Labor  for  the  Social  Advancement 
of  the  Race— Inventive  Genius  and  Mechanical  Skill— How  Melbourn  and 
Others  Regarded  Colonization  in  I/iberia  and  What  Time  Has  Disclosed  as 
to  That  Scheme— High  Tributes  to  the  Manhood  of  Some  Negro  Slaves — 
Rev.  Moses  Dickson.... 447 


PAGE. 

Some  Noted  Educators  of  the  Col- 
ored Race Frontispiece 

Alexander  Dumas 32 

Toussaint  L'Ouverture 40 

Col.  James  Hunter  Young 46 

Capt.  P.  J.  Bowen 53 

Lieut.  P.  L.  Carmouche 56 

William  Blackwell 57 

Edmond  H.  Deas 61 

Joseph  E.  Lee 64 

Nick  Chiles  67 

Rev.  C.  P.  T.  White 69 

Frederick  Douglass 78 

Dr.  William  T.  Penn 84 

McCants  Stewart,  A.  M 85 

Narcissa  West 86 

Rev.  John  Jasper 88 

Rev.  Joseph  J.  Clinton 89 

Bishop  Francis  Burns 95 

Bishop  John  Wright  Roberts 95 

Rev.  W.  J.  Howard 96 

John  A.  Whitted,  D.  D 97 

J.  W.  Kirby,  D.  D 98 

S.  N.  Vass,  D.  D .100 

Rev.  E.  P.Johnson 101 

Bishop  Richard  Allen 102 

Bishop  Morris  Brown 102 

Bishop  Edward  Waters 102 

Bishop  William  Paul  Quinn 102 

Bishop  Willis  Nazery. 102 

Bishop  D.  Alexander  Payne 102 

Bishop  Alexander  W.  Wayman 102 

Bishop  Jabez  Pitt  Campbell 102 

Bishop  James  A.  Shorter 102 

Bishop  Thomas  M.  D.  Ward 102 

Bishop  John  M.  Brown 102 


PAGE. 

Bishop  Henry  M.  Turner 102 

Bishop  William  F.  Dickerson 102 

Bishop  Richard  H.  Cain 102 

Bishop  Richard  R.  Disney 102 

Bishop  Wesley  J.  Gaines 102 

Bishop  B.  W.  Arnett 102 

Bishop  B.  T.  Tanner 102 

Bishop  Abraham  Grant 102 

J.  E.Jones,  D.  D 105 

Miss  Emma  B.  Delaney 106 

Bishop  L.  H.  Holsey 109 

Bishop  Isaac  Lane 109 

Bishop  J.  A.  Beebe 109 

Bishop  ET  Cottrell 109 

Bishop  R.  S.  Williams 109 

Rev.  Garnett  Russell  Waller. Ill  • 

A.  R.  Griggs,  D.  D 113 

Rev.  H.  N.  Bouey 114 

Paul  Laurence  Dunbar 120 

James  D.  Corrothers 121 

Charles  W.  Chesnutt 123 

Miss  Inez  C.  Parker 125 

Miss  Erne  Waller 131 

William  H.  Moss 135 

Capt.  J.  W.  Warmsley 139 

Theo.  W.  Jones 155 

Prof.  R.  T.  Greener 161 

E.  H.  Norris 173 

Prof.  I.  Garland  Penn 181 

Rev.  W.  W.  Brown 186 

Rev.  E.  W.  Lampton 191 

Mahlon  Van  Horn 197 

E.  M.  Hewlett 209 

J.  C.  Dancy 213 

H.  P.  Cheatham *17 

Bishop  C.  H.  Phillips 221 


ILL  USTRA  TIONS. 


xix 


PAGE. 

Gen.  Robert  Smalls 225 

Mrs.  Mary  Church  Terrell 229 

Prof.  Robert  H.  Terrell 235 

John  E.  Bruce 251 

Col.  James  H.  Deveaux 259 

John  P.  Green 273 

John  S.  Durham 281 

Phelps  Hall,  Tuskegee  Institute  .290 
The  Faculty,  Tuskegee  Institute  ..  292 
Dairy  Class,  Tuskegee  Institute  ...293 
Class  in  Chemistry,  Tuskegee  In- 
stitute   295 

Chapel,  Tuskegee  Institute 297 

Nurse  Training    Class,   Tuskegee 

Institute 299 

Booker  T.  Washington 303 

Dean's  Residence,  Virginia  Union 

University  315 

Pickiord  Hall,  Virginia  Union  Uni- 
versity   316 

Athletic    Field,    Roger    Williams 

University 321 

Library,  Roger  Williams  Univer- 
sity   326 

Owen  L.  Smith 335 

E.  E.  Cooper 341 

Judson  W.  Lyons 345 

Dining  Hall,  Roger  Williams  Uni- 
versity   354 

Bishop  George  W.  Clinton 361 

Virginia  Union  University 381 

M.  W.  Gibbs 386 

John  R.  Lynch 387 

N.  F.  Roberts,  D.  D 392 

A.  W.  Pegues,  Ph.  D 393 

Grace  J.  Thompson 394 

President's  House,  Roger  Williams 

University 396 

Main   Building,    Roger  Williams 

University 397 

Hayward    Hall,    Roger   Williams 

University 398 

Mrs.  Daisy  Miller  Harvey 401 

John  Hope 402 

Joseph  A.  Booker,  D.  D 403 


PAGE. 

Mrs.  Maria  T.  Kenney 404 

Howard  University 406 

Wm.  H.  H.  Hart 408 

John  Wesley  Hoffman 412 

C.  S.  Brown,  D.D 418 

Enos  L.  Scruggs,  B.  D 419 

Mrs.  Rachel  E.  R.  Robinson 421 

Miss  Judith  L.  Chambers  421 

Joshua  B.  Simpson  422 

Mrs.  Hannah  Howell  Reddick  ....424 

M.  W.  Reddick 425 

James  R.  L.  Diggs 426 

James  S.  Hathaway 427 

Miss  Mary  Kimble 429 

Charles  L.  Puree,  D.  D 430 

Rev.  C.H.  Parrish 433 

Edward  L.  Blackshear 434 

Prairie  View,  Texas,  State  Normal 

and  Industrial  College 435 

Prof.  B.  F.  Allen 437 

Prof.  W.  H.  Councill  441 

Prof.  H.  E.  Archer 444 

S.  W.  Bennett  446 

Rev.  N.  B.  Sterrett,  D  D 446 

W.  J.  Parker 446 

William  Ingliss 446 

Thos.  J.  Jackson  446 

Dr.  Thos.  E.  Miller 446 

Rev.J.  L.  Dart 446 

W.  D.  Crum,  M.  D  ... 446 

E.  A.  Lawrence 446 

J.  B.  Parker 449 

A.  M.  Custis,  A.  M.  M.  D 453 

W.  F.  Powell 457 

George  W.  Williams 461 

Class  in  Domestic  Science,  Sum- 

ner  High  School,  St.  Louis,  Mo. .465 

N.  W.  Cuner 469 

Sumner  High  School,  St.  Louis. 

Mo 471 

John  M.  Langston 473 

H.  A.  Rucker 477 

Blanche  K.  Bruce 479 

Rev.  Moses  Dickson 481 


ALEXANDRE   DUMAS, 
The  World-Famous  Novelist 


CHAPTER  I. 
THE  NEGRO  IN  REVELATION. 

TO  TREAT  of  the  Negro  in  revelation  specifically,  in  a 
work  of  this  kind,  the  inquiry  concerning  his  origin 
and  the  part  of  the  globe  to  which  he  was  assigned  in  the 
distribution  of  the  nations,  need  not  extend  beyond  what  the 
sacred  writings  teach  us. 

Tracing  the  families  of  man  from  the  first  pair,  as  noticed 
in  Genesis,  we  find  that  before  the  flood  they  were  not  divided 
into  races  or  separate  nationalities.  Even  after  that  event, 
and  when  Noah  and  his  sons  went  forth  with  the  blessing  of 
God  to  multiply  and  replenish  the  earth,  the  Lord  said:  "  Be- 
hold, the  people  is  one,  and  they  all  have  one  language.'* 

Ham,  one  of  the  sons  of  Noah,  is  regarded  by  both  Bible 
critics  and  historians  as  being  the  father  of  the  black  race — 
one  of  the  three  great  races  that  peopled  the  earth;  and  we 
find  in  the  10th  chapter  of  Genesis,  verses  6  to  20,  inclusive, 
the  names  of  Ham's  sons  and  some  of  their  descendants  and 
of  the  lands  they  occupied  after  uthe  people  were  scattered 
abroad  upon  the  face  of  all  the  earth,"  as  follows: 

"And  the  sons  of  Ham:  Cush,  and  Mizraim,  and  Phut, 
and  Canaan;  and  the  sons  of  Cush:  Seba,  and  Havilah,  and 
Sabtah,  and  Raamah,  and  Sabtechah;  and  the  sons  of  Raa- 
mah:  Sheba  and  Dedan.  And  Cush  begat  Nimrod;  he  began 
to  be  a  mighty  one  in  the  earth.  He  was  a  mighty  hunter 
before  the  Lord:  wherefore  it  is  said,  Even  as  Nimrod  the 
mighty  hunter  before  the  Lord.  And  the  beginning  of  his 
kingdom  was  Babel,  and  Erech,  and  Accad,  and  Calneh,  in 
the  land  of  Shinar.  Out  of  that  land  went  forth  Asshur, 
and  builded  Nineveh,  and  the  city  Rehoboth,  and  Calah,  and 
Resen  between  Nineveh  and  Calah:  the  same  is  a  great 
a  33 


34  THE    NEGRO    IN   REVELATION, 

city.  And  Mizraim  begat  Ludim,  and  Anamim,  and  Le- 
habim,  and  Naphtuhim,  and  Pathrusim,  and  Casluhim  (out 
of  whom  came  Philistim),  and  Caphtorim.  And  Canaan 
begat  Sidon  his  first-born,  and  Heth,  and  the  Jebusite,  and 
the  Amorite,  and  the  Girgasite,  and  the  Hivite,  and  the 
Arkite,  and  the  Smite,  and  the  Arvadite,  and  the  Zemarite, 
and  the  Hamathite:  and  afterward  were  the  families  of  the 
Canaanites  spread  abroad.  And  the  border  of  the  Canaan ites 
was  from  Sidon,  as  thou  comest  to  Gerar,  unto  Gaza;  as  thou 
goest,  unto  Sodom  and  Gomorrah,  and  Admah,  and  Zeboim, 
even  unto  Lasha.  These  are  the  sons  of  Ham,  after  their 
families,  after  their  tongues,  in  their  countries,  and  in  their 
nations." 

Josephus'  account  of  the  distribution  of  the  Hamitic  fam- 
ilies is  as  follows: 

"The  children  of  Ham  possessed  the  land  from  Syria  and 
Amanus,  and  the  mountains  of  Libanus;  seizing  upon  all 
that  was  on  its  sea-coasts,  and  as  far  as  the  ocean,  and  keep- 
ing it  as  their  own.  Some,  indeed,  of  its  names  are  utterly 
vanished  away;  others  of  them  being  changed,  and  another 
sound  given  them,  are  hardly  to  be  discovered,  yet  a  few 
there  are  which  have  kept  their  denominations  entire.  For 
of  the  four  sons  of  Ham,  time  has  not  at  all  hurt  the  name 
of  Chus;  for  the  Ethiopians,  over  whom  he  reigned,  are  even  at 
this  day,  both  by  themselves  and  by  all  men  in  Asia,  called 
Chusites.  The  memory  also  of  the  Mesraites  is  preserved 
in  their  name;  for  all  we  who  inhabit  this  country  [of  Judea] 
call  Egypt  Mestre,  and  the  Egyptians  Mestreans.  Phut 
also  was  the  founder  of  Libya,  and  called  the  inhabitants 
Phuthites,  from  himself;  there  is  also  a  river  in  the  country 
of  the  Moors  which  bears  that  name;  whence  it  is  that  we 
may  see  the  greatest  part  of  the  Grecian  historiographers 
mention  that  river,  and  the  adjoining  country,  by  the  appel- 
lation of  Phut;  but  the  name  it  has  now  has  been  by  change 
given  it  from  one  of  the  sons  of  Mestraini,  who  was  called 
Lzbzos,  We  will  inform  you  presently  what  has  been  the 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  35 

occasion  why  it  has  been  called  Africa  also.  Canaan,  the 
fourth  son  of  Ham,  inhabited  the  country  now  called  Judea, 
and  called  from  his  own  name  Canaan.  The  children  of 
these  [four]  were  these:  Sabas,  who  founded  the  Sabeans; 
Evilas,  who  founded  the  Evileans,  who  are  called  Getuli; 
Sabathes  founded  the  Sabathens;  they  are  now  called  by  the 
Greeks  Astaborans;  Sabactas  settled  the  Sabactans;  and 
Ragmas  the  Ragmeans;  and  he  had  two  sons,  the  one  of 
which,  Judadas,  settled  the  Judadeans,  a  nation  of  the  western 
Ethiopians,  and  left  them  his  name;  as  did  Sabas  the  Sa- 
beans. But  Nimrod,  the  son  of  Chus,  stayed  and  tyrannized 
at  Babylon.  .  .  .  Now  all  the  children  of  Mesraim, 
being  eight  in  number,  possessed  the  country  from  Gaza  to 
Egypt,  though  it  retained  the  name  of  one  only,  the  Phil- 
istim,  for  the  Greeks  called  part  of  that  country  Palestine. 
As  for  the  rest,  Ludiem,  and  Enemim,  and  Labim,  who 
alone  inhabited  in  Libya,  and  called  the  country  from  him- 
self; Nediin  and  Pethrosim,  and  Chesloim,  and  Cephthorim, 
we  know  nothing  of  them  besides  their  names;  for  the  Ethiopic 
war,  which  we  shall  describe  hereafter,  was  the  cause  that 
those  cities  were  overthrown.  The  sons  of  Canaan  were 
these:  Sidonius,  who  also  built  a  city  of  the  same  name;  it 
is  called  by  the  Greeks  Sidon;  Amathus  inhabited  in  Ama- 
thine,  which  is  even  now  called  Amathe  by  the  inhabitants, 
although  the  Macedonians  named  it  Epiphamia,  from  one  of 
his  posterity;  Arudeus  possessed  the  island  Aradus;  Arucas 
possessed  Acre  which  is  in  Libanus." 

Albert  Leigh  ton  Rawson,  in  his  Pronouncing  Bible  Dic- 
tionary, makes  the  matter  of  location  more  definite  by  giving 
the  modern  names  of  the  various  countries  over  which  "they 
spread  abroad."  He  says:  "The  sons  and  grandsons  of 
Ham  located  in  Egypt,  Abyssinia,  on  the  southwest  coast  of 
the  Red  Sea,  in  Arabia,  Persia,  Ethiopia,  Shinar,  Chaldea, 
West  Africa,  Marcotis,  Libya,  Memphis,  Thebes,  Pathros, 
Arabia  Petrsea,  Damietta,  Sidon  and  Tyre,  Judea,  Schechem, 
Arke,  Sinnas,  Island  of  Arvad,  Sumrah,  and  Hamath." 


36  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

And  again:  "Hani's  descendants  settled  in  Africa  and  sent 
many  branches  into  Asia  also.  The  locality  of  what  we  know 
specifically  as  the  Negro  race  was  the  valleys  of  the  Senegal, 
the  Gambia,  and  the  Niger,  and  the  intermediate  rivers  of 
the  coast,  parts  of  Sudamia,  and  parts  of  Sennaar,  Kordofan, 
and  Darfur. 

"There  is  no  other  ancient  name  so  well  preserved  and 
located  as  that  of  Ham.  It  is  identified  with  Jupiter  Ammon, 
and  also  Zeus,  because  both  words  are  derived  from  a  root 
meaning  hot,  fervent,  or  sunburnt.  For  the  last  three 
thousand  years  the  world  has  been  mainly  indebted  for  its 
advancement  to  the  Semitic  races;  but  before  this  period  the 
descendants  of  Ham,  in  Egypt  and  Babylon,  led  the  way  as 
the  pioneers  in  art,  literature,  and  science.  Mankind  at  the 
present  day  lies  under  infinite  obligations  to  the  genius  and 
industry  of  those  early  ages,  more  especially  for  alphabetic 
writing,  weaving  cloth,  architecture,  astronomy,  plastic  art, 
sculpture,  navigation  and  agriculture.  The  art  of  painting 
is  also  represented,  and  music  indirectly,  by  drawings  of  in- 
struments." 

It  has  been  held  by  some  that  Ethiopia,  the  country  ex- 
tending from  the  neighborhood  of  Khartoum  northward  to 
Egypt,  or  perhaps  the  somewhat  more  extended  region  indi- 
cated by  Rawson,  was  the  original  seat  of  the  distinctively 
Negro  race;  but  careful  investigators  conclude  that  he  was 
confined  to  no  particular  locality  during  those  ages  when,  as 
Rawson  tells  us,  the  Hamitic  race  was  laying  mankind 
" under  infinite  obligations,"  and  was  to  be  found  in  East 
Africa,  West  Africa,  North  Africa,  in  the  plains  of  India — 
perhaps  in  the  whole  southern  portion  of  Asia  and  elsewhere 
on  that  continent  and  neighboring  islands. 

It  is  not  our  purpose  to  inquire  minutely  into  this  matter 
of  the  negro's  location,  and  we  notice  the  wide  diffusion  of 
this  particular  type  of  Ham's  descendants  simply  to  show 
their  connection  with  the  achievements  in  art,  science,  and 
literature  which  distinguished  those  countries  long  before 


IN   HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  3? 

modern  civilization  had  its  dawn,  and  incidentally  to  show 
that  the  Negro  proved  himself  ages  ago  to  be  lacking  in  none 
of  the  qualities  of  mind  and  spirit  which  have  characterized 
the  great  and  progressive  peoples.  The  Negro  played  his 
part  in  those  early  ages  in  the  work  of  human  progress;  and 
it  cannot  be  maintained  with  any  show  of  reason  that  lapse 
of  time,  unfavorable  conditions  in  the  lands  where  they  were 
once  supreme,  and  hundreds  of  years  of  subjection  to  another 
race,  have  so  enervated  mind  and  darkened  soul  as  to  leave 
them  without  hope  for  the  future. 

Dr.  Livingstone,  writing  of  the  Africans  of  modern  days, 
as  he  saw  them  in  their  native  land,  says: ' 

"In  reference  to  the  status  of  the  Africans  among  the 
nations  of  the  earth,  we  have  seen  nothing  to  justify  the 
notion  that  they  are  of  a  different  'breed'  or  'species'  from  the 
most  civilized.  The  African  is  a  man  with  every  attribute 
of  human  kind.  Centuries  of  barbarism  have  had  the  same 
deteriorating  effects  on  Africans  as  Prichard  describes  them 
to  have  had  on  certain  of  the  Irish  who  were  driven,  some 
generations  back,  to  the  hills  of  Ulster  and  Connaught;  and 
these  depressing  influences  have  had  such  moral  and  physical 
effects  on  some  tribes  that  ages  probably  will  be  required  to 
undo  what  ages  have  done.  Ethnologists  reckon  the  African 
as  by  no  means  the  lowest  of  the  human  family.  He  is 
nearly  as  strong  physically  as  the  European;  and,  as  a  race, 
is  wonderfully  persistent  among  the  nations  of  the  earth. 
Neither  the  diseases  nor  the  ardent  spirits  which  proved  so 
fatal  to  North  American  Indians,  South  Sea  Islanders,  and 
Australians  seem  capable  of  annihilating  the  Negroes.  Even 
when  subjected  to  that  system  so  destructive  to  human  life, 
by  which  they  are  torn  from  their  native  soil,  they  spring  up 
irrepressibly,  and  darken  half  the  new  continent." 

Seventy  years  ago  a  writer  for  a  popular  encyclopaedia 
wrote  of  the  tribes  in  "Darkest  Africa"  as  follows: 

"The  African  tribes  of  this  variety  (the  Negro  or  Ethi- 
opic  race)  have  in  general  elevated  themselves  so  far  above 


3g  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

the  simple  state  of  nature  as  to  have  reduced  the  lower  ani- 
mals to  subjection,  constructed  settled  habitations,  practiced 
a  rude  agriculture,  and  manufactured  some  articles  of  cloth- 
ing or  ornament.  In  political  institutions  they  have  made 
no  advance,  their  governments  being  simple  despotisms, 
without  any  regular  organization.  Their  religion  is  merely 
the  expression  of  the  religious  feeling  in  its  lowest  form  of 
fetichism.  Their  languages  are  described  as  extremely  rude 
and  imperfect;  almost  destitute  of  construction,  and  incapa- 
ble of  expressing  abstractions.  They  have  no  art  of  convey- 
ing thoughts  or  wants  by  writing,  not  even  by  the  simplest 
symbolical  characters. 

"The  Negro  character,  if  inferior  in  intellectual  vigor,  is 
marked  by  a  warmth  of  social  affections,  and  a  kindness  and 
tenderness  of  feeling,  which  even  the  atrocities  of  foreign 
oppression  have  not  been  able  to  stifle.  All  travelers  con- 
cur in  describing  the  Negro  as  mild,  amiable,  simple,  hos- 
pitable, unsuspecting  and  faithful.  They  are  passionately 
fond  of  music,  and  they  express  their  hopes  and  fears  in  ex- 
temporary effusions  of  song." 

Compare  the  status  of  the  Negroes  in  the  United  States 
today  with  that  of  these  wild  tribes,  in  matters  of  orderly 
society,  business,  learning  and  religion,  and  say  whether  the 
Negro  has  not  the  innate  power  to  rise,  under  favorable  con- 
ditions, to  a  high  plane  of  civilization. 

But  the  better  argument  for  the  sweeping  away  of  false 
assumptions,  and  the  refutation  of  specious  reasoning,  is  the 
presentation  of  facts  that  directly  and  unequivocally  contra- 
dict them.  To  those  that  follow,  we  could  add  a  multitude 
of  others,  but  each  chapter  will  be  found  to  contain  enough 
to  illustrate  that  feature  of  the  general  subject  of  which  it 
treats.  To  cite  all  the  instances  that  have  a  bearing,  and 
name  all  the  persons  who  are  worthy  of  mention,  would  ex- 
tend this  work  beyond  all  reasonable  limits. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  NEGRO  AS  A  SOLDIER. 

I.   SOME  IN  FOREIGN  COUNTRIES. 

THAT  there  were  able  and  eminent  military  leaders  among 
the  Negroes  of  the  earlier  ages,  as  well  as  brave,  disci- 
plined and  efficient  soldiers,  is  borne  out  by  the  history  of 
their  wars  of  conquest  and  their  struggles  against  invasion, 
as  the  race  was  enlarging  its  borders  and  making  good  its 
claim  to  the  regions  occupied;  but  it  is  sufficient  for  our  pur- 
pose to  notice  particularly  only  some  of  whom  modern  his- 
tory takes  cognizance. 

Illustrious  among  colored  men  abroad  who  have  greatly 
distinguished  themselves  in  arms  is  Gen.  Alexandre  de  la 
Pailleterie  Dumas,  the  Afro-French  soldier.  He  was  the 
son  of  a  rich  French  colonist  residing  in  Santo  Domingo  and 
a  Negro  woman  of  that  country.  He  attained  to  eminence 
in  the  wars  of  the  French  Revolution  and  under  Bonaparte, 
who  called  him  "the  Horatius  Codes  of  the  Tyrol."  In  the 
Egyptian  expedition  he  commanded  Napoleon's  cavalry. 

A  more  modern  example  is  Gen.  Alfred  Dodds,  a  mulatto, 
who  is  one  of  the  most  distinguished  officers  in  the  French 
army.  He  was  recently  (if  he  is  not  now)  in  command  of 
the  French  forces  in  Tonquin,  Farther  India. 

One  of  the  most  prominent  of  Negro  slaves  who  have 
achieved  distinction  in  spite  of  adverse  fortune  was  Domi- 
nique Frangois  Toussaint  L'Ouverture.  He  was  born  near 
Cape  Frangais,  Haiti,  in  1743.  Though  in  bondage,  he 
won  the  esteem  and  confidence  of  his  master  by  his  intelli- 
gence and  upright  conduct,  and  received  at  the  hands  of  this 
master,  it  is  said,  such  instruction  in  reading,  writing  and 
arithmetic  as  fitted  him  for  the  ordinary  business  of  life. 
3  39 


40 

He  was  about  forty-eight  years  old  before  anything 
occurred  to  bring  him  into  prominence,  but  the  remainder  of 
his  life  (about  twelve  years)  was  crowded  with  remarkable 
incidents,  during  which  he  proved  himself  a  general,  a 
statesman,  and  a  man  of  honor. 

The  space  to  which  we  are  limited  forbids  going  into  de- 
tails, but  an  abstract  of  events  will  serve  to  place  him  before 
the  reader  as  a  representative  of  high  qualities  which  attract 

the  attention  of  mankind, 
whether  exhibited  by 
white  men  or  black,  slave 
or  free. 

When,  in  1791,  an  in- 
surrection against  the 
French  authorities  broke 
out,  he  was  asked  to  join 
the  insurgents,  but  he  re- 
fused to  take  any  part  un- 
til he  had  protected  his 
master  and  his  family  in 
their  flight  and  seen  them 
safe  on  board  a  vessel 
bound  for  the  United 
States.  Afterwards,  find- 
ing that  the  Spanish  and 
Knglish  had  combined 
against  the  French  royal- 
ists, he  joined  the  slave  leader  Frangois,  and  the  allied 
forces  of  the  enemy  were  defeated  and  the  French  governor, 
Blauchelande,  was  reinstated  in  office.  Toussaint  and  his 
associates  now  made  a  reasonable  request  of  Blauche- 
lande, that  in  return  for  the  great  services  rendered  him,  he 
should  grant  them  a  measure  of  freedom;  but  this  was 
spurned,  and  the  blacks  refused  to  disband.  During  the 
attempts  to  negotiate  terms  by  which  their  bondage  would 
be  less  galling,  their  general,  Frangois,  had  been  maltreated 


TOUSSAINT  I/OUVERTURE. 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    7Ar    CITIZENSHIP.  41 

by  the  French,  and  they  became  so  inflamed  that  they  fell 
upon  the  royalists,  and,  besides  killing  many,  captured  a 
large  number,  whom  they  were  about  to  massacre,  when 
Toussaint  interfered  and  magnanimously  saved  their  lives. 
He  soon  afterward  became  commander-in-chief ,  and  the  force 
which  had  formerly  fought  the  French  republicans  was  now 
allied  with  them,  and  during  the  next  seven  years  Toussaint 
won  numerous  victories,  and  eventually  the  British  general, 
Maitland,  abandoned  the  island,  having  surrendered  such 
posts  as  he  held  to  Toussaint,  whom  he  regarded  as  the  real 
ruler,  though  his  authority  was  not  acknowledged  till  the  last 
of  the  French  commissioners  claiming  authority  under  Bona- 
parte was  either  driven  from  the  island  or  compelled  to  yield. 
In  1799  he  was  undisputed  master  of  the  western  part  of  the 
island;  in  1801  he  occupied  the  eastern  part;  and  finally  he 
threw  off  all  pretense  of  allegiance  to  France,  and  promul- 
gated a  constitution  which  made  him  president  for  life,  with 
power  to  name  his  successor.  Bonaparte  thereupon  sent  his 
brother-in-law,  Leclerc,  with  a  powerful  army  to  subdue  the 
island.  A  series  of  bloody  conflicts  ensued,  in  which  Tous- 
saint displayed  heroic  valor  and  generalship  of  a  high  order; 
but  he  was  finally  compelled  to  yield  to  the  superior  num- 
bers, resources  and  skill  of  the  French.  He  surrendered 
and  was  ostensibly  pardoned  (May  1,  1802),  but  a  short 
time  afterward  he  was  arrested  on  a  charge  of  conspiracy  and 
sent  to  France.  Here  he  was  kept  in  prison  and  treated 
with  such  neglect  and  active  cruelty  as  virtually  made  his 
death,  which  occurred  next  year,  an  assassination. 

Greater  than  his  genius  as  an  organizer  and  a  soldier  was 
his  magnanimous  treatment  of  prisoners  and  his  generous 
and  statesmanlike  exercise  of  the  almost  autocratic  power 
that  came  into  his  hands.  His  treatment  of  his  master  and 
his  family  in  the  day  when  the  prospect  of  liberty  and  power 
was  opened  up  to  him,  and  calamity  threatened  the  master 
and  his  household,  was  worthy  of  the  most  enlightened  mind 
of  any  race;  and  his  efforts  to  have  his  soldiers  return  to  the 


42  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

cultivation  of  their  fields  and  devote  their  lives  henceforth  to 
honest  industry  in  the  pursuits  of  peace,  mark  him  as  having 
possessed  some  of  the  civic  virtues  of  General  Washington. 

History  has  crowned  L'Ouverture  as  one  of  earth's  ablest 
soldiers  and  most  enlightened  statesmen.  In  concluding  his 
sketch  of  Toussaint's  career,  Wendell  Phillips  used  the 
following  language: 

"Now,  blue-eyed  Saxon,  proud  of  your  race,  go  back  with 
me  to  the  commencement  of  the  century  and  select  what 
statesman  you  please.  Let  him  be  either  American  or  Euro- 
pean, let  him  have  a  brain  the  result  of  six  generations  of 
culture,  let  him  have  the  richest  training  of  university  rou- 
tine, let  him  add  to  it  the  better  education  of  practical  life; 
crown  his  temples  with  the  silver  of  seventy  years,  and  show 
me  the  man  of  Saxon  lineage  for  whom  his  most  sanguine 
admirers  will  wreathe  a  laurel  such  as  embittered  foes  have 
placed  on  the  brow  of  the  Negro,  Toussaint  L'Ouverture." 

II.     IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

George  W.  Williams,  the  colored  historian,  estimates  that 
not  less  than  three  thousand  Negro  soldiers  did  service  in  the 
American  army  during  the  Revolution,  including  those  from 
every  northern  colony  enrolled  in  white  regiments.  Rhode 
Island  first  made  her  slaves  freemen  and  then  called  on  them 
to  fight.  A  black  regiment  was  raised  there,  of  which  Col. 
Christopher  Green  was  made  commander.  Connecticut  sent 
a  black  battalion  into  the  field  under  command  of  Col.  David 
Humphrey. 

Two  Virginia  Negroes,  Israel  Titus  and  Samuel  Jenkins, 
fought  under  Braddock  and  Washington  in  the  French  and 
Indian  War. 

Crispus  Attucks  led  an  attack  on  the  British  soldiers  on 
the  day  of  the  Boston  massacre,  March  5,  1770,  and  was 
killed. 

It  has  been  said  that  one  of  the  men  killed  when  Maj. 
Pitcairn,  commanding  the  British  advance  on  Concord  and 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  43 

Lexington,  April  19,  1775,  ordered  his  troops  to  fire  on  the 
Americans,  was  a  Negro  bearing  arms. 

Peter  Salem,  a  Negro,  did  service  during  the  Revolution, 
and  is  said  to  have  killed  Maj.  Pitcairn,  at  Bunker  Hill. 
Other  black  men  besides  Salem  fought  there,  of  whom  we 
have  the  names  of  Salem  Poor,  Titus  Coburn,  Alexander 
Ames,  Barzillai  Lew,  and  Cato  Howe.  After  the  war  these 
men  were  pensioned . 

Prince,  a  Negro  soldier,  was  Col.  Barton's  chief  assistant 
in  capturing  the  British  officer,  Major-Gen.  Prescott,  at  New- 
port, Rhode  Island,  during  the  Revolution. 

Primus  Babcock  had,  as  late  as  1818,  an  honorable  dis- 
charge from  the  American  army  signed  by  Gen.  Wash- 
ington. 

Lambo  Latham  and  Jordan  Freeman  fell  with  Ledyard  at 
the  storming  of  Fort  Griswold.  Freeman  is  said  to  have 
killed  Maj.  Montgomery,  a  British  officer,  who  was  leading 
an  attack  on  Americans  in  a  previous  fight. 

Hamet,  one  of  Gen.  Washington's  Negroes,  was  drawing  a 
pension  as  a  Revolutionary  soldier  in  1839. 

Oliver  Cromwell  served  six  years  and  nine  months  in 
Col.  Israel  Shreve's  regiment  of  New  Jersey  troops  under 
Washington's  immediate  command. 

Charles  Bowles  became  an  American  soldier  when  but  six- 
teen years  old,  and  served  to  the  end  of  the  Revolution. 

Seymour  Burr  and  Jeremy  Jonah  were  Negro  soldiers  in  a 
Connecticut  regiment. 

Deborah  Gannett,  a  Negro  woman,  enlisted  in  the  Fourth 
Massachusetts  Infantry  in  disguise,  under  the  name  of  Robert 
Shurtliff,  1782,  and  served  a  year  and  a  half,  for  which  the 
General  Court  paid  her  £34  inl791-2. 

Prince  Richards,  of  Bast  Bridgewater,  Connecticut,  was  a 
pensioned  Revolutionary  soldier. 

A  Negro  whose  name  is  not  known  obtained  the  counter- 
sign by  which  Mad  Anthony  Wayne  was  enabled  to  take 
Stony  Point,  and  guided  and  helped  him  to  do  so. 


44  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

Jack  Grove  was  a  Negro  steward  on  board  an  American  ves- 
sel which  the  British  captured.  He  insisted  on  retaking  it, 
and  at  length  prevailed  npon  the  captain  to  make  the  at- 
tempt, which  was  successful. 

There  was  in  Massachusetts  during  those  Revolutionary 
days  one  company  of  Negro  men  bearing  a  special  designa- 
tion, '  'The  Bucks,"  which  seems  to  have  been  a  notable  body 
of  soldiers,  as  at  the  close  of  the  war  its  services  and  stand- 
ing were  recognized  by  John  Hancock  presenting  to  it  a 
beautiful  banner. 

In  the  settling  of  Kentucky  some  Negro  men  brought 
thither  by  their  masters  distinguished  themselves  as  Indian 
fighters.  The  following  incidents  are  found  recorded  in 
Thompson's  "Young  People's  History  of  Kentucky:" 

"Ben  Stockton  was  a  slave  in  the  family  of  Major 
George  Stockton,  of  Fleming  county.  He  was  a  regular 
Negro,  and  though  a  slave,  he  was  devoted  to  his  master.  He 
hated  an  Indian  and  loved  to  moralize  over  a  dead  one;  getting 
into  a  towering  rage  and  swearing  magnificently  when  a  horse 
was  stolen;  handled  his  rifle  well,  though  somewhat  foppishly, 
and  hopped,  danced,  and  showed  his  teeth  when  a  prospect 
offered  to  chase  'the  yaller  varmints.'  His  master  had 
confidence  in  his  resolution  and  prudence,  while  he  was  a 
great  favorite  with  all  the  hunters,  and  added  much  to  their 
fun  on  dull  expeditions.  On  one  occasion,  when  a  party  of 
white  men  in  pursuit  of  Indians  who  had  stolen  their  horses 
called  at  Stockton's  Station  for  reinforcements,  Ben,  among 
others,  volunteered.  They  overtook  the  savages  at  Kirk's 
Springs,  in  Lewis  county,  and  dismounted  to  fight;  but  as 
they  advanced,  they  could  see  only  eight  or  ten,  who  quickly 
disappeared  over  the  mountain.  Pressing  on,  they  discovered 
on  descending  the  mountain  such  indications  as  convinced 
them  that  the  few  they  had  seen  were  but  decoys  to  lead 
them  into  an  ambuscade  at  the  base,  and  a  retreat  was 
ordered.  Ben  was  told  of  it  by  a  man  near  him;  but  he  was 
so  intent  on  getting  a  shot  that  he  did  not  hear,  and  the  order 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  45 

was  repeated  in  a  louder  tone,  whereupon  he  turned  upon  his 
monitor  a  reproving  look,  grimaced  and  gesticulated  ludi- 
crously, and  motioned  to  the  man  to  be  silent.  He  then  set 
off  rapidly  down  the  mountain.  His  white  comrade,  unwill- 
ing to  leave  him,  ran  after  him,  and  reached  his  side  just  as 
he  leveled  his  gun  at  a  big  Indian  standing  tiptoe  on  a  log 
and  peering  into  the  thick  woods.  At  the  crack  of  Ben's 
rifle  the  savage  bounded  into  the  air  and  fell.  The  others 
set  up  a  fierce  yell,  and,  as  the  fearless  Negro  said,  'skipped 
from  tree  to  tree  like  grasshoppers.'  He  bawled  out:  'Take 
dat  to  'member  Ben — de  black  white  man!'  and  the  two 
then  beat  a  hasty  retreat." 

"In  the  family  of  Capt.  James  Estill,  who  established  a 
station  about  fifteen  miles  south  of  Boonesborough ,  was  a 
Negro  slave,  Monk,  who  was  intelligent,  bold  as  a  lion,  and 
as  faithful  to  his  pioneer  friends  as  though  he  were  a  free 
white  settler  defending  his  own  rights.  About  daylight, 
March  20,  1782,  when  all  the  men  of  the  fort  except  four 
were  absent  on  an  Indian  trail,  a  body  of  the  savages  came 
upon  Miss  Jennie  Glass,  who  was  outside,  but  near  the  sta- 
tion, milking — Monk  being  with  her.  They  killed  and 
scalped  Miss  Glass  and  captured  Monk.  When  questioned 
as  to  the  force  inside  the  walls,  the  shrewd  and  self-possessed 
Negro  represented  it  as  much  greater  than  it  was  and  told 
of  preparation  for  defense.  The  Indians  were  deceived,  and 
after  killing  the  cattle,  they  retreated  across  the  river. 
When  the  battle  of  Little  Mountain  opened,  two  days  after- 
ward, Monk,  who  was  still  a  prisoner  with  the  Indians, 
cried  out;  'Don't  give  way,  Mas'  Jim!  There's  only  about 
twenty-five  redskins,  and  you  can  whip  'em!'  This  was 
valuable  and  encouraging  information  to  the  whites.  When 
the  Indians  began  to  advance  on  Lieutenant  Miller,  when 
he  was  sent  to  prevent  a  flank  movement  and  guard  the 
horse-holders,  Monk  called  also  to  him  to  hold  his  ground 
and  the  white  men  would  win.  Instead  of  being  instantly 
killed,  as  was  to  be  apprehended,  even  though  the  savages 


COL   JAMES    HUNTER   YOUNG. 
Third  North  Carolina  Volunteers. 


IN   HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  47 

might  not  understand  his  English,  he  made  his  escape  be- 
fore the  fight  closed  and  got  back  to  his  friends.  On  their 
return  to  the  station,  twenty-five  miles,  without  sufficient 
horses  for  the  wounded,  he  carried  on  his  back,  most  of  the 
way,  James  Berry,  whose  thigh  was  broken.  He  had  learned 
to  make  gunpowder,  and,  obtaining  saltpetre  from  Peyton's 
Cave,  in  Madison  county,  he  frequently  furnished  this  in- 
dispensable article  to  Estill's  Station  and  Boonesborough. 
He  has  been  described  as  being  five  feet  five  inches  high  and 
weighing  two  hundred  pounds.  He  was  a  respected  member 
of  the  Baptist  Church,  when  whites  and  blacks  worshiped 
together.  He  was  held  in  high  esteem  by  the  settlers,  and 
his  young  master,  Wallace  Kstill,  gave  him  his  freedom  and 
clothed  and  fed  him  as  long  as  he  lived  thereafter — till  about 
1835. 

"A  year  or  two  after  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  War, 
a  Mr.  Woods  was  living  near  Crab  Orchard,  Kentucky, 
with  his  wife,  one  daughter  (said  to  be  ten  years  old),  and 
a  lame  Negro  man.  Early  one  morning,  her  husband  being 
away  from  home,  Mrs.  Woods,  when  a  short  distance  from 
the  house,  discovered  seven  or  eight  Indians  in  ambush. 
She  ran  back  into  the  house,  so  closely  pursued  that  before 
she  could  fasten  the  door  one  of  the  savages  forced  his  way 
in.  The  Negro  instantly  seized  him.  In  the  scuffle  the 
Indian  threw  him,  falling  on  top.  The  Negro  held  him  in 
a  strong  grasp  and  called  to  the  girl  to  take  an  axe  which 
was  in  the  room  and  kill  him.  This  she  did  by  two  well- 
aimed  blows;  and  the  Negro  then  asked  Mrs.  Woods  to  let 
in  another  that  he  with  the  axe  might  dispatch  him  as  he 
came,  and  so,  one  by  one,  kill  them  all.  By  this  time, 
however,  some  men  from  the  station  near  by,  having  discov- 
ered that  the  house  was  attacked,  had  come  up  and  opened 
fire  on  the  savages,  by  which  one  was  killed  and  the  others 
put  to  flight.'7  , 

In  the  navy,  especially,  during  the  War  of  1812,  Negroes 
were  engaged  as  fighting  men.  Commodore  Chauncey  said 


48  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

in  1813  that  he  had  nearly  fifty  blacks  on  board  his  ship  and 
that  many  of  them  were  among  his  best  men.  Commodore 
Perry  spoke  highly  of  their  good  conduct  and  of  their 
bravery  in  his  battles  on  the  lakes.  The  following  extract 
from  a  letter  written  by  Commodore  Nathaniel  Shaler,  of  the 
private  armed  schooner  " Governor  Tompkins,"  January  1, 
1813,  is  of  much  interest.  Speaking  of  the  result  of  a  fight 
with  a  British  frigate,  he  said: 

"The  name  of  one  of  the  two  of  my  poor  fellows  who  was 
killed  ought  to  be  registered  in  the  book  of  fame  and  remem- 
bered with  reverence  as  long  as  bravery  is  considered  a  virtue. 
He  was  a  black  man,  by  the  name  of  John  Johnson. 
A  twenty-four-pound  shot  struck  him  in  the  hip  and  tore 
away  all  the  lower  part  of  his  body.  In  this  state  the  poor 
brave  fellow  lay  on  the  deck  and  several  times  exclaimed  to 
his  shipmates:  'Fire  away,  my  boys;  no  haul  a  color  down!' 
The  other  was  also  a  black  man,  by  the  name  of  John  Davis, 
and  he  was  struck  in  much  the  same  way.  He  fell  near  me 
and  several  times  requested  to  be  thrown  overboard,  saying 
he  was  only  in  the  way  of  others." 

General  Andrew  Jackson,  when  preparing  for  the  defense 
of  New  Orleans,  called  upon  the  colored  inhabitants  of 
Louisiana  to  participate  in  the  struggle  with  the  British. 
His  proclamation  was  dated  September  21,  1814,  and  by  the 
eighteenth  of  December  a  force  was  organized  and  equipped 
and  an  eloquent  and  commendatory  address  was  read  "To 
the  men  of  color. ' ' 

In  the  "Life  and  Opinions  of  Julius  Melbourn,"  from 
which  we  have  made  copious  extracts  elsewhere,  he  has 
something  to  say  in  reply  to  an  assertion  that  "the  Negro 
is  mild  and  yielding  in  his  nature  and  destitute  of  the  per- 
sonal courage  necessary  for  a  soldier."  Referring  to  the 
black  regiments  who  served  during  the  Revolutionary  War, 
he  says:  "Neither  their  skill,  bravery,  nor  fidelity  was  ever 
questioned."  And  then,  alluding  to  the  War  of  1812,  he 
remarks:  "It  will  be  conceded  that  almost  the  only  martial 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  49 

glory  acquired  by  Americans,  excepting  always  the  battle  of 
New  Orleans,  was  acquired  by  the  American  navy;  and  it 
will  be  conceded  also  that  a  great  proportion  of  the  fighting 
men  of  that  navy  were  Negroes.  The  managers  of  the  Park 
Theatre  in  New  York,  in  testimony  of  the  bravery  of  the 
lamented  Captain  Lawrence  and  his  crew,  manifested  in  the 
brilliant  action  with  the  British  sloop-of- war  'Peacock,'  invited 
him  and  them  to  a  play  in  honor  of  the  victory  achieved  on 
that  occasion.  The  crew  marched  together  into  the  pit,  and 
nearly  one-half  of  them  were  Negroes." 

During  the  Civil  War  about  200,000  colored  soldiers  were 
regularly  enlisted  for  service  in  the  Federal  army  and  navy, 
and  President  Lincoln  commissioned  eight  colored  surgeons 
for  duty  in  field  and  hospital.  Even  a  cursory  glance  at  the 
history  of  that  time  shows  that  the  black  troops  repeatedly 
received  from  officers  high  in  command  warm  commendation 
for  their  general  conduct  and  their  bearing  in  battle,  and  that 
a  number  of  individuals  particularly  distinguished  them- 
selves. Charles  E.  Nash,  afterward  a  member  of  Congress, 
had  received  some  education  in  New  Orleans  schools.  In  1863 
he  enlisted  in  the  Eighty-third  Regiment  United  States 
Chasseurs  dr  Afrique,  and  became  acting  sergeant-major  of 
that  command;  at  the  storming  of  Fort  Blakeley  he  lost  a  leg 
and  was  honorably  discharged. 

William  Hannibal  Thomas,  the  author  of  ''The  American 
Negro:  What  he  was,  what  he  is,  and  what  he  may  become," 
was  a  soldier  during  the  Civil  War,  and  lost  an  arm  dur- 
ing that  service.  He  may  properly  be  classed  among  those 
who  have  borne  arms  for  their  country,  though  he  was  after- 
ward author,  teacher,  lawyer  and  legislator.  At  one  time 
he  was  active  and  efficient  in  promoting  the  building  of 
churches  and  establishing  schools  throughout  the  South, 
laboring  for  the  moral  and  intellectual  as  well  as  for  the 
material  advancement  of  the  freedmen. 

Robert  Smalls  was  born  a  slave  at  Beaufort,  South  Carolina, 
but  educated  himself  to  some  extent;  having  been  employed 


50  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

as  a  rigger  of  water-craft,  and  having  led  a  sea-faring  life 
for  awhile,  he  was  connected  in  1861  with  a  transport 
steamer,  "The  Planter,"  and  this  he  took  over  the  Charles- 
ton bar  and  delivered  to  the  commander  of  the  United 
States  blockading  squadron,  May,  1862;  was  appointed  a 
pilot  in  the  United  States  Navy,  and  served  as  such  on  the 
monitor  "Keokuk"  in  the  attack  on  Fort  Sumter;  was  pro- 
moted to  captain  for  gallant  and  meritorious  conduct,  De- 
cember 1,  1863,  and  placed  in  command  of  "The  Planter," 
which  he  held  until  the  vessel  was  put  out  of  com- 
mission, 1866.  He  was  a  member  of  the  South  Carolina 
Constitutional  Convention,  1868;  elected  same  year  to  the 
Legislature;  to  the  State  Senate,  1870  and  1872,  and  was  a 
member  of  the  Forty-fourth  and  Forty-fifth  Congresses. 

When  the  Spanish  War  broke  out  (1898),  the  colored 
men  North  and  South  were  not  only  willing  but  eager  to  vol- 
unteer; but  as  there  were  no  colored  organizations  they  were 
not  at  first  accepted.  When  Congress  authorized  the  raising 
of  ten  immune  colored  regiments,  the  plan  to  put  whites 
in  command  above  the  grade  of  second-lieutenant  prevented 
colored  men  from  enlisting  as  they  would  otherwise  have 
done.  But  four  immune  regiments  were  organized — the 
Seventh,  Eighth,  Ninth  and  Tenth,  and  so  officered. 

There  are  four  regiments  of  colored  regulars  in  the  United 
States  Army,  the  Twenty-fourth  and  Twenty-fifth  Infantry, 
and  the  Ninth  and  Tenth  Cavalry.  These  were  first  mus- 
tered into  the  regular  service  in  1866,  having  fought  during 
the  last  years  of  the  Civil  War.  These  regiments  composed 
part  of  Shafter's  force  in  the  Santiago  campaign. 

The  following  colored  volunteer  troops  were  raised  by  the 
states  named:  Third  Alabama  Infantry;  Sixth  Virginia  In- 
fantry; Eighth  Illinois  Infantry;  Companies  A  and  B, 
Indiana  Infantry;  Thirty-third  Kansas  Infantry;  Ninth 
Ohio  Infantry  (a  battalion).  The  Eighth  Illinois  was 
officered  by  colored  men  throughout,  J.  R.  Marshall  com- 
manding. This  regiment  did  garrison  duty  in  Santiago 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  51 

province  for  some  time  after  the  war,  and  Marshall  was  for 
awhile  military  governor  of  San  Luis.  The  Ninth  Ohio  Bat- 
talion was  commanded  by  Brevet-Major  Charles  B.  Young,  a 
graduate  of  West  Point.  Lieut.  John  H.  Alexander,  who 
did  service  in  Cuba,  was  also  a  West  Point  graduate. 

Gov.  Russell,  of  North  Carolina,  called  out  a  colored  regi- 
ment, the  Third  Infantry,  officered  by  colored  men  through- 
out, Col.  James  H.  Young  commanding,  but  it  was  not 
mustered  into  the  service. 

Company  L,  Sixth  Massachusetts  Infantry,  was  a  colored 
company,  the  only  one  serving  in  a  white  regiment. 

John  L.  Waller,  a  Negro  man  who  had  been  United 
States  Consul  to  Madagascar,  was  a  captain  in  the  Kansas 
regiment. 

About  one  hundred  Negro  second-lieutenants  were  com- 
missioned in  the  volunteer  force  during  the  Spanish- Ameri- 
can War.  There  were  two  Negro  paymasters,  John  R. 
Lynch,  of  Mississippi,  fourth  auditor  of  the  United  States 
Treasury,  and  Richard  R.  Wright,  of  Georgia,  president  of 
the  State  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  College  for  Colored 
Persons.  Two  Negro  chaplains  were  commissioned,  the  Rev. 
C.  T.  Walker,  of  Georgia,  and  the  Rev.  Richard  Carroll,  of 
South  Carolina. 

The  fighting  of  the  black  troops  in  Cuba  won  the  confi- 
dence of  the  white  soldiers  and  their  officers,  and  was  highly 
commended.  Col.  Roosevelt  said  that  the  conduct  of  the 
Ninth  and  Tenth  Cavalry  reflected  honor  on  the  whole 
American  people,  especially  on  their  own  race.  Several 
colored  noncommissioned  officers  were  promoted  for  gallant 
conduct  in  Cuba. 

It  will  be  noticed  in  the  history  of  Shaw  University,  given 
elsewhere  in  this  work,  that  some  of  the  alumni  of  that 
institution  became  military  officers. 

Cuba,  in  her  struggles  for  freedom,  had  among  her  own 
people  two  splendid  leaders  who  were  mulattoes,  Antonio  and 
Jose  Maceo. 


52  THE    NEGRO    IN   REVELATION, 

Five  Southern  States,  Alabama,  Georgia,  North  Carolina, 
South  Carolina  and  Virginia,  comprehend  colored  troops  in 
their  militia. 

The  following  colored  troops  have  done  service  in  the  Phil- 
ippines: Twenty-fourth  and  Twenty-fifth  Regular  Infantry, 
parts  of  the  Ninth  and  Tenth  Regular  Cavalry,  and  the 
Forty-eighth  and  Forty-ninth  Volunteer  Infantry — all  offi- 
cered by  colored  men. 

Apropos  of  the  conduct  of  the  colored  soldiers  in  Cuba,  a 
Red  Cross  nurse  in  the  hospital  at  Siboney,  during  the  bat- 
tle at  Santiago,  says,  in  the  course  of  some  reminiscences  of 
that  time,  after  speaking  in  detail  of  the  work  of  surgeons 
and  nurses: 

"And  so  it  went  on  through  the  long  night — the  patient 
suffering  of  the  sick  men,  the  heroism  of  the  wounded — all 
fearing  to  give  any  trouble,  desiring  not  to  do  so,  and  grate- 
ful for  the  smallest  attention.  The  courage  that  faces  death 
on  the  battlefield,  or  calmly  waits  for  it  in  the  hospital,  is 
not  a  courage  of  race  or  color.  Two  of  the  bravest  men  I 
ever  saw  were  here,  almost  side  by  side,  on  the  little  porch, 
Capt.  Mills  and  Private  Clark,  one  white  the  other  black. 
They  were  wounded  almost  at  the  same  time  and  in  the  same 
way.  The  patient  suffering  and  heroism  of  the  black  soldier 
was  fully  equal  to  the  Anglo-Saxon's.  It  was  quite  the 
same — the  gentleness  and  appreciation.  They  were  a  study 
— these  men  so  wide  apart  in  life,  but  here  so  strangely  close 
and  alike  on  the  common  ground  of  duty  and  sacrifice. 
They  received  precisely  the  same  care.  Each  was  fed  like  a 
.child,  for  with  their  bandaged  eyes  they  were  as  helpless  as 
blind  men.  When  the  ice-pads  were  renewed  on  Capt. 
Mills'  eyes  the  same  change  was  made  on  Private  Clark's 
eyes.  There  was  no  difference  in  the  food  or  beds.  Neither 
ever  uttered  a  word  of  complaint.  .  .  .  When  told  who  his 
nearest  neighbor  was,  Capt.  Mills  expressed  great  sympathy 
for  Private  Clark,  and  paid  a  high  tribute  to  the  bravery  of 
the  colored  troops  and  their  faithful  performance  of  duty." 


HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP. 


CAPT.    P.    J.    BOWEN. 


53 


The  subject  of  the  accompanying  sketch  is  well  known 
among  the  citizens  of  Providence,  Rhode  Island,  having  been 
prominently  connected  there,  both  as  a  military  officer  and 
as  a  business  man,  for  more  than  twenty  years.  When  but 
a  youth  he  engaged  as  an  apprentice  in  a  printing  office 
located  in  the  old  Union  Depot.  He  continued  in  his  chosen 


CAPT.  P.  J.  BOWEN. 
Soldier,  Author,  a  Successful  Business  Man. 

profession,  being  employed  in  some  of  the  largest  establish- 
ments in  the  city.  Later  he  engaged  in  business  for  him- 
self, under  the  style  and  name  of  the  Kxcelsior  Print  Com- 
pany. 

In  1894,  after  having  risen  from  private  to  lieutenant  in 
the  First  Separate  Company,  R.  I.  M.,  he  was  chosen  cap- 
tain of  the  Second  Separate  Company,  and  held  that  office 


54  THE    NEGRO    IN   REVELATION, 

until  the  latter  consolidated  with  the  First  Separate  Com- 
pany, in  1895. 

Captain  Bowen  has  also  the  distinction  of  being  the  author 
of  a  military  drama,  entitled  "Fort  Wagner,"  which  was 
first  produced  in  1897. 

P.    L.    CARMOUCHE. 

Pierre  Lacroix  Carmouche  was  the  first  Afro- American  to 
offer  his  services  to  President  McKinley  for  the  Spanish 
War,  with  those  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  other  colored  men 
whom  he  had  induced  to  join  him. 

He  went  to  Cuba  as  first  lieutenant  of  Company  L, 
Ninth  United  States  Volunteer  Infantry,  and  took  an  hon- 
orable part  in  the  Santiago  campaign. 

He  was  born  in  the  town  of  Donaldson,  Ascension  Parish, 
Louisiana,  November  20,  1862.  His  father,  Pierre  Car- 
mouche, was  a  man  of  marked  integrity,  whose  word  was 
regarded  by  his  neighbors,  black  and  white,  as  good  as  a 
bond.  His  mother,  still  living  in  1902,  was  active  and 
intelligent,  notwithstanding  advanced  age. 

In  early  boyhood,  Pierre,  the  son,  was  sent  to  school,  and 
it  was  not  long  before  he  acquired  familiarity  with  the  Bng- 
lish  tongue,  which  was  not  spoken  in  his  father's  family 
before  he  began  to  attend  school.  He  learned  fast,  and  his 
ambition  to  be  well  informed  helped  him  to  obtain  a  common 
school  education  under  very  adverse  circumstances,  for  when 
he  was  just  about  fitted  to  enter  a  normal  school,  preparatory 
to  continuing  his  studies  in  college,  as  has  been  the  mis- 
fortune of  many  an  ambitious  boy  before,  his  beloved  father 
took  sick,  became  an  invalid,  lingered  for  months  and 
months,  and  then  died,  leaving  four  small  children  and  their 
mother  to  care  for  themselves.  The  loss  of  his  father  caused 
young  Carmouche  to  leave  school.  He  became  apprentice 
to  a  barber,  learned  the  trade  easily,  worked  at  it  for 
awhile,  and  then  having  an  offer,  accepted  an  apprentice- 
ship in  a  dental  office,  where  he  was  becoming  very  useful 


IN   HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  55 

co  his  preceptor  as  an  assistant,  when  the  death  of  his  em- 
ployer put  an  end  to  the  pursuit  in  which  he  was  rapidly 
achieving  proficiency. 

Undaunted  by  these  discouragements,  young  Carmouche, 
now  only  about  seventeen  years  of  age,  sought  and  obtained 
apprenticeship  in  a  wheelwright,  blacksmith  and  farrier's 
shop.  At  this  trade  he  worked  faithfully,  until  he  became 
master  of  it.  He  finally  owned  and  operated  the  very  shop 
in  which  he  learned  the  trade,  commanding  the  trade  patron- 
age of  most  of  the  livery  stables,  planters  and  business  men 
of  Donaldsonville  and  vicinity.  In  the  municipal  election  of 
1886,  he  was  elected  assessor  for  the  town  of  Donaldsonville, 
and  succeeded  himself  in  1887.  About  this  time  the  Knights 
of  Labor  sentiment  was  spreading  over  the  country,  and  he 
took  a  leading  part  in  organizing  a  local  branch  of  the  order 
in  Donaldsonville.  The  membership  of  this  branch  was 
over  twelve  hundred  strong,  and  the  organization  in  1888 
nominated  him  as  its  candidate  for  election  as  representative 
to  the  State  Legislature  for  Ascension  Parish.  He  has  been 
reared  a  Roman  Catholic,  but  is  friendly  to  all  denomina- 
tions. He  was  repeatedly  elected  secretary  of  the  Board  of 
Trustees  of  St.  Peter's  Methodist-Episcopal  Church  at  Don- 
aldsonville, and  the  present  beautiful  edifice  now  replacing 
the  old  St.  Peter  building,  in  that  lovely  little  city  on  the 
Mississippi  river,  eighty-two  miles  above  New  Orleans,  is 
in  part  a  monument  to  thej&nergy  and  interest  he  displayed 
in  assisting  the  Methodists  of  his  place  in  their  noble 
Christian  efforts.  If  there  was  ever  any  doubt  of  the  patri- 
otism of  Pierre  L.  Carmouche  in  the  Parish  of  Ascension, 
Louisiana,  there  is  certainly  no  such  doubt  there  now.  In 
a  state  where  colored  military  organizations  are  not  allowed, 
much  less  encouraged,  this  young  man  went  about  the 
parish  at  his  own  expense,  after  the  blowing  up  of  the  Maine 
in  the  harbor  of  Havana  on  the  15th  of  February,  1898,  and 
appealed  to  the  colored  people  to  prepare  to  defend  the 
dignity  of  the  flag  of  the  United  States.  He  did  not  rest  until 


56 


THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 


he  was  able  to  make  to  the  President  of  the  United  States, 
through  the  Secretary  of  War,  the  following  patriotic  offer: 


LIEUT.  P.  L.  CARMOUCHE. 


DONALDSONVIIXE,  LOUISIANA,  February  26,  1898. 
R.  G.  ALGER,  Secretary  of  War,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Dear  Sir: — After  carefully  considering  the  condition  of 
the  United  States  and  the  possibility  of  a  declaration  of  war 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP. 


57 


between  the  United  States  and  Spain,  I  deem  it  advisable  to 
offer  my  services  and  that  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  colored 
Americans,  on  short  notice,  in  the  defense  of  our  country, 
at  home  or  abroad.  Yours  loyally, 

P.  L.  CARMOUCHE. 


WILLIAM    BLACKWELL. 


Henry  W.  Grady,  of  Georgia,  and  others,  quoted  elsewhere 
in  this  work,  have  alluded  to  the  singular  fidelity  of  the  Negro 


WILLIAM  BLACKWELL. 


during  the  Civil  War,  when  fathers,  sons  and  brothers  were 
in  the  tented  field  and  powerless  to  protect  the  women  and 
children  at  home.  The  same  spirit  of  devotion  and  loyalty 
was  manifested  in  many  instances  by  Negro  men  who  fol- 


58  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

lowed  the  fortunes  of  the  Confederate  Army,  in  the  service  of 
their  masters.  One  instance  may  be  recorded: 

William,  a  young  Negro  belonging  to  the  Blackwell  family 
in  Union  county,  Kentucky,  accompanied  Lieut.  Thomas  C. 
Blackwell,  Company  C,  Fourth  Kentucky  Infantry,  when  he 
entered  the  Confederate  service  in  1861,  and  stayed  with  him 
and  his  company  through  all  the  vicissitudes  of  war — never 
manifesting  any  disposition  to  escape  northward,  though 
there  were  repeated  opportunities  to  do  so,  or  to  become  a 
free  man  by  abandoning  his  Confederate  friends  and  going 
over  to  the  Federal  troops.  Even  after  emancipation  was 
proclaimed  he  seemed  to  feel  that  it  would  be  an  act  of  deser- 
tion if  he  should  abandon  his  young  master  and  the  com- 
pany of  which  he  was  in  effect  a  member. 

He  enjoyed  the  confidence  and  respect  of  all  who  knew 
him;  and  when  the  war  closed  he  came  back  to  Kentucky 
with  Lieutenant  Blackwell  and  those  of  his  men  who  had 
survived,  and  in  1865  began  life  on  his  own  responsibility 
among  the  people  who  had  known  him  as  a  slave. 

The  portrait  accompanying  this  sketch  was  made  from  a 
photograph  taken  in  Union  town  soon  after  he  got  home,  and 
preserved  by  one  who  knew  him  during  his  four  years'  serv- 
ice in  the  Confederate  Army. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  NEGRO  IN  POLITICS,  JOURNALISM,  AND  THE 
LECTURE  FIELD. 


THE  BRUGES. 


AMONG  the  first  of  his  race  in  America  to  hold  high 
official  position,  State  and  National,  was  Blanche 
K.  Bruce.  He  was  born  a  slave  in  Prince  Edward  county, 
Virginia,  March  1,  1841,  and  remained  in  slavery  until  freed 
by  the  war,  though  he  had  the  unusual  experience  of  being 
taught  in  his  master's  house.  After  the  war  he  taught  in 
Hannibal,  Missouri;  studied  at  Oberlin  College  and  pri- 
vately; removed  to  Mississippi  in  1869  and  became  a  planter; 
served  as  sheriff  of  Bolivar  county  in  that  State,  1871-74; 
was,  meanwhile,  1872-73,  superintendent  of  education  for 
his  county;  was  United  States  senator,  1875-1881,  and  reg- 
ister of  the  United  States  Treasury,  1881-85.  Beginning 
with  1868  he  was  a  member  of  every  National  Republican 
Convention  that  met  in  many  years. 

At  Harvard  University's  senior  class  election  on  the  16th 
of  December,  1901,  the  contestants  for  the  position  of  orator 
were  R.  E.  Fitzpatrick,  of  Boston,  an  Irishman,  one  of  the 
brightest  and  most  promising  young  speakers  in  Harvard, 
and  Roscoe  Conkling  Bruce,  son  of  the  late  Senator  Bruce. 
The  young  Negro  man  won  the  oratorical  honor  by  a  vote  of 
269  to  100.  Bruce  debated  against  Yale  in  1899  and  1901, 
and  was  one  of  the  most  popular  young  men  of  his  class. 


EDMUND   H.   DEAS. 


Perhaps  there  is  no  one  of  his  race  better  known  or  more 
highly  respected  in  South  Carolina  than  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  of  late  resident  in  Washington,  D.  C.,  and  in  1901 

59 


60  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

elected  chairman  of  the  Republican  State  Committee  of  his 
native  State. 

Like  most  men  of  note,  he  came  of  humble  parentage,  and 
after  freedom  came  to  his  people  he  had  a  hard  struggle 
against  poverty;  but  this  circumstance  contributed  no  little 
in  the  way  of  preparing  him  to  be  the  Moses  of  his  people. 
We  do  not  claim  that  he  was  born  a  politician;  nevertheless, 
it  is  true  that  all  the  characteristics  of  a  successful  politician 
and  statesman  were  found  in  him  well  developed  by  the  time 
he  reached  his  teens.  He  may  be  called  a  master  along  this 
particular  line,  having  served  a  regular  apprenticeship  in 
politics.  Beginning  in  the  year  1874  as  precinct  chairman, 
in  1878  he  was  elected  chairman  of  his  congressional  district, 
which  position  he  held  eight  years,  with  credit  to  himself  and 
satisfaction  to  his  party.  Twenty-two  years  ago  he  was 
made  a  member  of  the  State  Kxecutive  Committee,  and  is 
still  serving  his  party  with  signal  ability  in  that  capacity, 
being  now  (1901)  its  honored  head.  In  1880  he  was  elected 
county  chairman,  which  position  he  still  holds  by  the  unani- 
mous suffrage  of  his  constituents.  During  all  these  years 
he  has  been  the  most  active  and  aggressive  Republican  in 
the  State. 

His  labors  have  not  been  confined  to  these  honorary  posi- 
tions, but  he  has  filled  several  offices  of  trust  and  remuner- 
ation, such  as  supervisor,  deputy  marshal,  deputy  treasurer 
of  his  county,  examiner  in  pension  office,  Washington, 
D.  C.,  and  deputy  collector  of  internal  revenue,  which  posi- 
tion he  has  held  from  188-1  to  the  present  time,  with  an  in- 
terruption of  two  years  during  Cleveland's  administration. 

He  has  been  voted  for  several  times  for  presidential  elector 
and  for  Congress;  has  been  a  member  of  five  national  conven- 
tions and  three  times  a  member  of  the  notification  committee. 

Though  he  first  saw  the  light  of  day  in  Georgetown,  South 
Carolina,  June  10,  1855,  no  county  or  State  can  claim  him: 
he  belongs  to  and  lives  for  the  the  uplifting  of  the  Negro 
everywhere. 


EDMUND  H.  DEAS, 


62  THE    NEGRO    IN   REVELATION, 

In  addition  to  those  noticed  more  at  length  under  the  head 
of  Politics,  Journalism,  etc.,  we  mention  briefly  the  following 
persons  who  have  distinguished  themselves  in  some  one  of 
these  lines: 

The  Rev.  N.  B.  Wood  is  a  historian,  newspaper  writer 
and  lecturer,  as  well  as  a  preacher. 

John  G.  Mitchell  is  the  editor  of  the  Richmond  Planet. 

H.  T.  Keating,  A.  M. ,  an  educator,  is  editor  of  the  ^4.  M.  E. 
Review,  Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania. 

E.  E.  Cooper  is  the  editor  of  The  Colored  American,  Wash- 
ington, D.  C. 

Dr.  I.  B.  Scott  is  the  editor  of  the  Southwestern  Christian 
Advocate,  in  New  Orleans,  Louisiana. 

W.  L.  Martin,  a  graduate  of  Oberlin,  has  been  a  member 
of  the  Illinois  Legislature. 

H.  A.  Rucker  is  collector  of  internal  revenue  in  one  of 
the  Georgia  districts. 

Mississippi  has  had  one  Negro  lieutenant-governor — 
Alexander  Davis;  South  Carolina,  two — AlonzoJ.  Rausier 
and  Richard  H.  Gleaves;  and  Louisiana,  three — Oscar  J. 
Dunn,  P.  B.  S.  Pinchback,  and  C.  C.  Antoine. 

J.  Milton  Turner,  of  Missouri,  John  H.  Smith,  of  North 
Carolina,  and  Henry  W.  Garnett,  of  New  York,  have  been 
ministers  resident  and  consuls-general  to  Liberia. 

E.  D.  Bassett,  of  Pennsylvania,  and  John  M.  Langston, 
of  the  District  of  Columbia,  have  been  ministers  resident 
and  consuls-general  to  Hayti. 

Hiram  R.  Revels,  preacher,  teacher,  lecturer,  church  offi- 
cer, active  in  organizing  colored  troops  during  the  war,  was 
afterward  United  States  senator  from  Mississippi,  beginning 
his  service  in  that  body  February  25,  1870. 

Richard  H.  Cain  was  a  missionary  from  Brooklyn  to  the 
freedmen  of  South  Carolina;  member  of  the  South  Carolina 
Constitutional  Convention;  member  of  the  State  Senate; 
editor  of  a  newspaper;  and  member  of  Forty-third  and  Forty- 
fifth  Congresses. 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  63 

Robert  C.  De  Large  was  an  agent  of  the  Freedman's 
Bnrean  in  South  Carolina;  member  of  the  Constitutional 
Convention;  member  of  the  Legislature  for  three  terms; 
sinking  fund  commissioner;  state  land  commissioner;  and 
member  of  the  Forty-second  Congress. 

Jere  Haralson  was  born  a  slave  in  Georgia;  when  the  war 
closed  he  was  nineteen  years  old  and  wholly  uneducated, 
but  by  industry  and  application  he  acquired  the  rudiments 
of  learning;  was  a  member  of  the  Alabama  Legislature  in 
1870;  member  of  the  State  Senate,  1872;  and  member  of  the 
Forty-fourth  and  Forty-fifth  Congresses. 

John  T.  Walls,  of  Virginia,  who  had  received  a  common 
school  education,  was  a  member  of  the  State  Constitutional 
Convention,  1868;  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives, 
same  year;  of  the  State  Senate,  1869-1872;  and  was  twice  a 
member  of  Congress. 

John  R.  Lynch  was  born  a  slave  in  Louisiana  in  1847; 
had  night-school  instruction  in  Natchez  during  Federal  occu- 
pation, and  afterward  by  personal  effort  became  a  fair  Knglish 
scholar;  was  justice  of  the  peace  under  Governor  Ames; 
member  of  the  Mississippi  Legislature  two  terms,  the  last  of 
which  he  was  Speaker  of  the  House;  and  was  a  member  of 
the  Forty -third  and  Forty -fourth  Congresses. 

Benjamin  S.  Turner  was  born  a  slave  in  North  Carolina 
in  1825;  was  carried  to  Alabama  in  1830;  had  no  teaching, 
but  became  "a  fair  scholar  by  diligent  application  to  study 
during  business  hours;  was  elected  tax-collector  of  Dallas 
county  in  1867;  councilman  of  the  city  of  Selma,  1869;  and 
was  a  member  of  the  Forty-second  Congress. 

Robert  B.  Elliott  was  a  graduate  of  Eton  College,  Eng- 
land. He  studied  law  and  became  a  practitioner  in  South 
Carolina;  was  a  member  of  the  Constitutional  Convention  of 
that  State,  1868;  member  of  the  Legislature;  assistant 
adjutant-general  of  South  Carolina;  member  of  the  Forty- 
second  and  Forty-third  Congresses;  and  afterward  sheriff  of 
his  county. 


64 


THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 


Joseph  H.  Rainey  was  born  of  slave  parents,  but  became  a 
fair  scholar  by  unaided  application;  escaped  from  service  in 
building  fortifications  at  Charleston  and  went  to  the  West 
Indies;  after  the  war  he  returned  and  was  a  member  of  the 
Constitutional  Convention  of  South  Carolina,  1868;  a  mem- 


\\ 


HON.  JOSEPH  E.  LEE. 
Collector  Internal  Revenue,  Jacksonville,  Florida. 

ber  of  the  State  Senate,  1870;  and  a  member  of  the  Forty- 
first,  Forty-second,  Forty-third,  Forty-fourth  and  Forty-fifth 
Congresses. 

At  the  Cathedral  in  Baltimore,  June  21,  1902,  the  Rev. 
J.  Harry  Dorsey  was  ordained  to  the  Roman  Catholic  priest- 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  65 

hood  by  Cardinal  Gibbons.  He  was  the  second  colored  man 
ever  so  ordained  in  this  country;  and  to  receive  holy  orders 
at  his  age  (twenty-eight)  indicates  superior  character,  abil- 
ity, and  scholarship.  The  first  one  of  his  race  ordained  to  the 
Catholic  priesthood  was  the  Rev.  C.  R.  Uncles,  a  member  of 
the  Josephite  Order,  who  received  holy  orders  December  13, 
1891.  Father  Totten,  a  colored  priest  who  died  in  Chicago, 
a  few  years  ago,  was  ordained  abroad. 

The  Hon.  Judson  W.  Lyons,  register  of  the  United  States 
Treasury,  is  a  native  of  the  State  of  Georgia,  where  he  was 
born  in  Burke  county  about  forty  years  ago. 

He  received  his  education  in  the  common  schools,  which 
was  supplemented  and  enlarged  by  the  higher  training  at  the 
Augusta  Institute,  now  the  Baptist  College  of  Atlanta. 

He  taught  country  schools  during  the  summers  in  South 
Carolina  and  Georgia,  while  studying  at  the  institute. 

In  1880  he  was  actively  engaged  in  politics  and  in  that 
year  was  sent  as  a  delegate  to  the  Republican  National  Con- 
vention, which  met  at  Chicago,  where  he  enjoyed  the  unique 
distinction  of  being  its  youngest  member,  being  only  twenty 
years  of  age.  He  was  subsequently  appointed  ganger  for 
Augusta  and  Savannah,  and  later  served  in  the  deputy  col- 
lector's department. 

He  entered  the  Howard  University  Law  School  at  Wash- 
ington, and  was  graduated  in  the  class  of  '8-1.  In  November 
of  the  same  year  he  was  admitted  to  the  Augusta  bar,  where 
he  continued  the  practice  <5f  his  profession  until  1898,  when 
President  McKinley  appointed  him  register  of  the  United 
States  Treasury  Department. 

Mr.  Lyons'  career  at  the  bar  has  been  highly  honorable 
and  creditable.  He  has  appeared  before  all  the  courts  of 
Georgia,  from  the  inferior  to  the  highest  courts.  He  has  a 
wide  and  intimate  knowledge  of  the  common  law  of  the  coun- 
try, and  enjoys  the  respect  and  confidence  of  some  of  the 
leading  lawyers  of  his  State. 

In  1896  he  was  elected  national  cominitteeman  for  Georgia, 


66  THE    NEGRO    IN   REVELATION, 

and  re-elected  at  the  Philadelphia  Convention  in  1900.  On 
the  rostrum  his  quality  of  oratory  is  didactic  rather  than 
imaginative.  He  prefers  the  statement  of  facts  to  that  of 
meaningless  rhetoric,  and  is  very  effective  as  a  public 
speaker. 

His  addresses  are  frequently  quoted  in  the  debates  of  Con- 
gress. He  has  administered  the  affairs  of  the  great  office 
of  register  of  the  United  States  Treasury  which  he  has  held  for 
the  last  four  years  with  great  ability,  and  to  the  entire  satis- 
faction of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  and  the  business 
men  of  the  country  generally. 

ALONZO    J.    RAUSIER. 

Alonzo  J.  Rausier,  a  self-educated  man,  was  a  member  of 
the  Constitutional  Convention  of  South  Carolina,  1868;  a 
member  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  1869;  was  for 
some  years  chairman  of  the  Republican  Central  Committee 
of  South  Carolina;  elector  of  the  Grant  and  Coif  ax  ticket, 
1868;  elected  lieutenant-governor,  1870;  was  president  of 
the  Southern  States  Convention  at  Columbia,  1871;  was  a 
vice-president  of  the  National  Republican  Convention  at 
Philadelphia,  1872;  and  was  a  member  of  the  Forty- third 
Congress. 

JAMES    T.    RAPIER. 

James  T.  Rapier,  born  in  Alabama,  was  educated  in  Can- 
ada; being  a  citizen  of  Alabama  after  the  war,  he  was 
appointed  a  notary  public  in  1866;  was  a  member  of  the  first 
Republican  convention  held  in  Alabama,  and  one  of  the 
committee  to  draft  the  party  platform;  was  a  member  of  the 
Constitutional  Convention  of  1867;  was  nominated  for  sec- 
retary of  state  in  1870;  was  made  collector  of  internal 
revenue,  second  Alabama  district,  1871;  was  appointed  by 
the  governor  to  be  state  commissioner  to  the  Vienna  Ex- 
position of  1873;  and  was  a  member  of  the  Forty-third 
Congress. 


IN   HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP. 


67 


NICK    CHILES. 


Nick  Chiles,   the  business   manager   and  owner  of  the 
Topeka  Plaindealer,  was  born  in  Abbeville  county,  South 


NICK  CHILES. 

Business  Manager  of  The  Topeka  Plaindealer,  who  went  to  the  relief  of  Mrs.  Nation  when 
deserted  by  the  law  and  order  people. 

Carolina,  of  slave  parents.    He  went  to  Kansas  in  1886,  with 
only  five  dollars  in  his  pocket.     He,  however,  had  an  abund- 


63  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

ance  of  self-confidence  and  energy,  with  a  meager  education 
and  an  inherent  ability  to  make  money;  he  applied  himself 
diligently  to  everything  that  came  to  hand,  and  has  suc- 
ceeded, in  the  face  of  the  usual  difficulties,  in  acquiring  a  rea- 
sonable amount  of  wealth.  He  is  at  present  the  owner  of 
three  large  buildings  on  East  Seventh  street  in  Topeka, 
and  also  has  interest  in  several  pieces  of  farm  laud  scat- 
tered over  the  State.  He  began  in  1899  the  publication  of 
the  Topeka  Plaindealer,  devoted  to  the  interest  of  the  col- 
ored people.  This  paper  has  steadily  grown  in  favor  with 
the  public  and  now  ranks  as  one  of  the  strongest  papers  pub- 
lished by  colored  men  in  the  United  States.  It  has  among 
its  readers  people  of  both  races.  He  gives  employment  to  a 
number  of  colored  girls  and  boys,  who  are  learning  the  print- 
ing and  binding  business  at  his  office.  In  this  office  is 
printed  the  official  business  for  the  colored  Masons,  Odd  Fel- 
lows, Knights  of  Pythias,  and  several  of  the  church  minutes 
are  printed  here.  The  plant  of  the  Plaindealer  is  valued  at 
$2,000,  and  is  one  of  the  best  equipped  Negro  offices  in  the 
West.  Mr.  Chiles  also  owns  and  operates  one  of  the  best 
equipped  hotels  in  the  West.  In  spite  of  intense  opposition 
he  has  successfully  operated  all  his  various  business  enter- 
prises and  is  gradually  forging  to  the  front.  When. Mrs.  Na- 
tion began  her  crusade  against  the  joints  of  Topeka  and  the  so- 
called  Law  and  Order  people  organized  under  the  influence  of 
an  aroused  public  sentiment,  Mr.  Chiles  manifested  a  deep  in- 
terest in  her  work.  As  a  result  of  the  crusade,  Mrs.  Nation 
was  arrested  for  destroying  private  property  and  placed  in  the 
county  jail,  and  there  she  was  deserted  by  her  so-called 
friends.  She  called  upon  Nick  Chiles  to  come  forward  and 
furnish  her  bond,  which  he  did.  Mrs.  Nation  being  a 
Christian  woman  and  desiring  to  promote  the  best  interest 
of  the  community,  and  also  to  manifest  her  appreciation 
of  the  kindly  interest  of  Mr.  Chiles,  invited  him  to  asso- 
ciate himself  with  her  in  the  publication  of  The  Smashers 
Mail. 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP. 


REV.    C.    P.    T.    WHITE. 


69 


In  the  State  of  South  Carolina  alone  more  than  thirty  col- 
ored newspapers  are  published.     One  of  the  strongest  forces 


REV.  C    P.  T.  WHITE. 
itor  of  The  Messenger,  kock  Hill,  South  Carolina. 


in  this  galaxy  of  opinion-moulders  is  Mr.  C.  P.  T.  White. 
editor  of  the  Rock  Hill  Messenger,  published  at  Rock  Hill, 


70  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

South  Carolina.  Mr.  White  is  well  known,  not  only  as  an 
editor,  but  as  a  minister  of  the  gospel,  as  a  politician  of  no 
mean  ability,  and  as  an  orator  of  eloquence  and  power.  To 
read  his  history  is  to  read  that  of  thousands  of  young  men 
who  have  grown  up  since  emancipation.  He  was  born  in 
Chester  county,  South  Carolina,  June  20,  1866,  the  fifth  son 
of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  David  White. 

He  received  his  primary  training  in  the  country  school 
and  entered  Brainard  Institute,  Chester,  South  Carolina,  in 
the  fall  of  1883.  He  received  his  higher  training  at  Shaw 
University,  Raleigh,  North  Carolina.  Before  graduation 
he  accepted  a  professorship  in  the  Friendship  Institute, 
Rock  Hill,  South  Carolina,  in  the  fall  of  1892,  but  he  re- 
signed in  1894  to  accept  the  principalship  of  the  Fort  Mill 
Graded  School.  He  began  the  publication  of  the  Messenger 
January  10,  1896,  which  has  continued  ever  since.  In  1898 
he  was  appointed  notary  public  by  Governor  Ellerbee.  He 
was  elected  secretary  of  the  fifth  congressional  district  of 
South  Carolina  in  1900,  which  position  he  now  holds. 

Fire  destroyed  the  Messenger  plant  in  April,  1898,  com- 
pletely, which  was  a  total  loss.  He  married  Miss  Lizzie 
Moore,  of  Charlotte,  North  Carolina,  June  6,  1894,  and  one 
little  boy  has  come  to  bring  sunshine  and  happiness  to  the 
family. 

The  success  of  Mr.  White  is  an  example  of  what  brain 
and  pluck  can  accomplish.  While  still  a  young  man,  he  has 
the  respect  and  confidence  of  all  who  know  him. 

It  was  reported  at  one  of  the  Annual  Conferences  held  to 
discuss  the  various  important  questions  touching  the  race  in 
this  country,  as  previously  alluded  to,  that  there  are  now  in 
the  United  States  one  hundred  and  fifty-three  periodicals,  pub- 
lished by  Negroes  in  the  interest  of  their  people,  as  follows: 

MAGAZINES. — A.  M.  E.  Church  Review,  quarterly,  Phil- 
adelphia, Pennsylvania;  A.  M.  E.  Zion  Church  Review, 
quarterly,  Charlotte,  North  Carolina;  Howard's  American 
Magazine,  monthly,  Harrisburgh,  Pennsylvania. 


IN    tftSTORY,    AND    IN    CtTlZSNSfftP.  71 

DAILY  PAPERS. —  The  Daily  Recorder,  Norfolk,  Virginia; 
American  Citisen,  Kansas  City,  Missouri;  The  Daily 
Record,  Washington,  D.  C. 

WEEKLY  PAPERS. — ALABAMA. — -Baptist  Leader,  Mont- 
gomery; Mobile  Weekly  Press,  Mobile;  Christian  Hope,  Mo- 
bile; National  Association  Notes,  Tuskegee;  Southern  Watch- 
man, Mobile;  Christian  Age,  Mobile;  Educator,  Huntsville. 

CALIFORNIA. —  Western  Outlook,  San  Francisco. 

COLORADO. —  Statesman,  Denver;  Sun,  Colorado  Springs; 
Western  Enterprise,  Colorado  Springs. 

•DISTRICT  OF  COLUMBIA. — Bee,  Washington,  Colored 
American,  Washington. 

FLORIDA. — Sentinel,  Pensacola;  Evangelist,  Jackson; 
East  Coast  Banner,  Interlaken;  Forum,  Ocala;  Recorder, 
Orlando;  Samaritan  Ledger,  Sanford;  Herald,  Live  Oak. 

GEORGIA. — Appeal,  Atlanta;  Baptist  Truth,  Savannah; 
Tribune,  Savannah;  Georgia  Baptist,  Augusta;  Progress, 
Athens;  Dispatch,  Albany;  Southern  Christian  Recorder, 
Atlanta;  Southern  Georgia  Baptist,  Waycross;  Aurora, 
Atlanta;  Age,  Atlanta;  Weekly  News,  Savannah;  Union, 
Augusta;  Clipper,  Athens;  Herald,  Brunswick;  Enterprise, 
La  Grange;  Guide,  La  Grange;  Voice  of  Missions,  Atlanta; 
Iconoclast,  Albany;  Spectator,  Darien;  Sentinel,  Macon; 
Monitor,  Columbus;  Investigator,  Americus;  Index,  Car- 
penters ville. 

ILLINOIS. — Conservator,  Chicago. 

INDIANA. — World,  Indianapolis;  Freeman,  Indianapolis; 
Recorder,  Indianapolis. 

KANSAS. — Plaindealer,  Topeka. 

KENTUCKY. — Lexington  Standard,  Lexington;  American 
Baptist,  Louisville;  Bluegrass  Bugle,  Frankfort;  Major, 
Hopkinsville. 

LOUISIANA. — S.  W.  Christian  Advocate,  New  Orleans; 
Republican  Courier,  New  Orleans. 

MASSACHUSETTS. — Courant,  Boston. 

MARYLAND. —  Weekly  Guide,  Baltimore;  Messenger,  Balti- 


72  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

more;  Baptist  Voice,  Baltimore;  Crusade,  Baltimore;  Re- 
publican Guide,  Baltimore;  Ledger,  Baltimore;  Afro-Amer- 
ican, Baltimore;  Signal,  Cumberland. 

MICHIGAN. — Informer,  Detroit. 

MISSISSIPPI. — New  Light,  Columbus. 

MISSOURI. — American  Citizen,  St.  Louis. 

MINNESOTA. — Appeal,  St.  Paul. 

NEBRASKA. — Enterprise,  Omaha;  Afro-American  Senti- 
nel, Omaha;  Progress,  Omaha. 

NEW  JERSEY. — Public  Record,  Newark;  Union,  Orange; 
W.  T.  Pattersons  Weekly,  Asbury  Park;  Public  Record, 
Atlantic  City. 

NEW  YORK. — Spectator,  Albany;  Age,  New  York;  Pres- 
byterian Herald,  New  York;  Methodist  Herald,  New  York. 

NORTH  CAROLINA. — Defender,  Raleigh;  Blade,  Raleigh; 
Gazette,  Raleigh;  Baptist  Sentinel,  Raleigh;  Star  of  Zion, 
Charlotte;  Afro-American  Presbyterian,  Charlotte;  Eastern 
Herald,  Kdenton;  Neuse  River  Herald,  Waldron;  True  Re- 
former, Littleton;  Cotton  Boll,  Concord. 

OHIO. — Gazette,  Cleveland;  Observer,  Xenia;  Rostrum, 
Cincinnati. 

OKLAHOMA  TERRITORY. — Constitution,  Oklahoma;  Guide, 
Oklahoma. 

PENNSYLVANIA. — Christian  Recorder,  Philadelphia;  Trib- 
une, Philadelphia;  Christian  Banner,  Philadelphia;  Odd 
Fellows  Journal,  Philadelphia;  Symposium,  Philadelphia. 

SOUTH  CAROLINA. — Peedee  Educator,  Bennetts ville;  Pied- 
mont Indicator,  Spartanburg;  Peopled  Record,  Columbia; 
Standard,  Columbia;  Christian  Soldier,  Columbia;  Observer, 
Charleston. 

TEXAS. —  Weekly  Express,  Dallas;  Rising  Sun,  Rockdale; 
City  Times,  Galveston;  Star,  Fort  Worth;  Elevator,  Whar- 
ton;  Guide,  Victoria;  Helping  Hand,  Oakland;  Gazette, 
Galveston;  Advance,  San  Antonio;  Item,  Dallas;  Herald, 
Austin;  Searchlight,  Austin;  Reporter,  Marshall;  Teacher, 
Caldwell;  New  Idea,  Galvestou;  X-Ray,  San  Antonio; 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  73 

Spectator,  Yoakum;  Southern  Herald,  Waco;  Paul  Quinn 
Weekly,  Waco;  Sequin,  Navasota;  Bugle,  Navasota;  Enter- 
prise, Bellville;  Monitor,  Marshall. 

TENNESSEE. — Ship,  Bristol;  Christian  Index,  Jackson. 

VIRGINIA. — Richmond  Planet,  Richmond;  Virginia  Bap- 
tist, Richmond;  Reformer,  Richmond;  National  Pilot,  Peters- 
burg; Leader,  Alexandria;  Colored  Churchman,  Bedford 
City. 

WEST  VIRGINIA. — Pioneer  Press,  Martinsburg. 

SCHOOL  AND  COLLEGE  PAPERS. — Lane  College  Reporter, 
Jackson,  Tennessee;  Argus,  Biddle  University,  Charlotte, 
North  Carolina;  Aurora,  Morris  Brown  College,  Atlanta, 
Georgia;  Scroll,  Atlanta  University,  Atlanta,  Georgia; 
Tuskegee  Student,  Tuskegee,  Alabama;  College  Arms, 
Tallahassee,  Florida;  College  Record,  Talledega,  Alabama; 
Courier,  Clark  University,  Atlanta,  Georgia;  News,  Brick 
Institute,  Eufield,  North  Carolina;  Fisk  Herald,  Nashville, 
Tennessee;  University  Herald,  Howard  University,  Wash- 
ington, D.  C. 

'  SUMMARY. — Magazines,  3;  daily  papers,  3;  school  papers, 
11;  weekly  papers,  136.     Total,  153. 

The  sixty-six  leading  newspapers  were  established  as 
follows: 

1839     Christian  Recorder Philadelphia,  Pa. 

1865     Southwestern  Christian   Advo- 
cate  New  Orleans,  La. 

1870     Christian  Index Jackson,  Teiin. 

1876  Star  of  Zion Charlotte,  N.  C. 

1877  Conservator Chicago,  111. 

1880  Georgia  Baptist Augusta,  Ga. 

Leader Alexandria,  Va. 

American  Baptist Louisville,  Ky. 

1881  New  York  Age New  York,  N.  Y. 

1882  Washington  Bee Washington,  D.  C, 

Pioneer  Press Martinsburg,  W.  Va. 

Indianapolis  World. Indianapolis,  Ind. 


74  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

1883  Gazette Cleveland,  O. 

Richmond  Planet Richmond,  Va. 

1884  Philadelphia  Tribune Philadelphia,  Pa. 

A.  M.  E.  Church  Review Philadelphia,  Pa. 

1885  Tribune .Savannah,  Ga. 

Elevator San  Francisco,  Cal. 

1886  The  Brotherhood Natchez,  Miss. 

1887  Florida  Sentinel Pensacola,  Fla.- 

National  Pilot Petersburg,  Va. 

1888  Southern  Christian  Recorder.  .Atlanta,  Ga. 

1889  Augusta  Union Augusta,  Ga. 

American  Citizen Kansas  City,  Kans. 

Statesman Denver,  Col. 

1890  Christian  Banner Philadelphia,  Pa. 

1891  Southern  Watchman Mobile,  Ala. 

Raleigh  Blade Raleigh,  N.  C. 

Constitution Guthrie,  Oklahomac 

1892  Afro- American  Sentinel Omaha,  Neb. 

Afro- American Baltimore,  Md. 

Lexington  Standard Lexington,  Ky. 

1893  Colored  American Washington,  D.  C. 

People }s  Recorder . .  .Columbia,  S.  C. 

Defender Raleigh,  N.  C. 

Guide Guthrie,  Oklahoma. 

1894  Weekly  Express Dallas,  Texas. 

Western  Outlook San  Francisco,  Cal. 

Weekly  Press . .  Mobile,  Ala. 

1895  The  Ship Bristol,  Tenn. 

Enterprise La  Grange,  Ga. 

Baptist  Sentinel Raleigh,  N.  C. 

Spectator Albany,  N.  Y. 

Kentucky  Standard Louisville,  Ky. 

1896  Forum Ocala,  Fla. 

South  Georgia  Baptist Waycross,  Ga. 

Association  Notes Tuskegee,  Ala. 

Public  Record Atlantic  City,  N.  J. 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  75 

1896  Guide Baltimore,  Md. 

Monitor Jacksonville,  Fla. 

1897  Evangelist Jacksonville,  Fla. 

Informer Detroit,  Mich. 

Herald Brunswick,  Ga. 

Elevator Wharton,  Tex. 

Advance San  Antonio,  Tex. 

Helping  Hand Oakland,  Tex. 

American  Eagle St.  Louis,  Mo. 

1898  Atlanta  Age Atlanta,  Ga. 

Enterprise Omaha,  Neb. 

Appeal Atlanta,  Ga. 

Union Orange,  N.  J. 

Symposium Germantown,  Pa. 

Observer Macon,  Miss. 

Republican  Guide Baltimore,  Md. 

Baptist  Voice Baltimore,  Md. 

Gazette Galveston,  Tex. 

The  following  papers,  among  others,  own  their  own 
buildings: 

Star  of  Zion,  Charlotte,  North  Carolina,  Pioneer  Press., 
Martinsburg,  West  Virginia,  Planet,  Richmond,  Virginia, 
Christian  Recorder  and  A.  M.  E.  Church  Review,  Philadel- 
phia, Pennsylvania,  Florida  Sentinel,  Pensacola,  Florida, 
Forum,  Ocala,  Florida,  The  Ship,  Bristol,  Tennessee,  Pub- 
lic Record,  Atlantic  City,  New  Jersey,  Symposium,  German- 
town,  Pennsylvania,  Bee,  Washington,  D.  C.,  Christian  In- 
dex, Jackson,  Tennessee. 

The  buildings  are  valued  as  follows:  $700,  $900,  $1,500, 
$1,700,  $3,500,  $5,500,  $8,000,  $10,000,  $12,000,  $17,500; 
total  valuation,  $61,300. 

Forty-four  papers  own  printing  plants:  Six  less  than 
$500,  fourteen,  from  $500  to  $1,000;  twelve,  from  $1,000  to 
$2,500;  nine,  from  $2,500  to  $5,000;  three,  $5,000  and 
over.  Total  actual  valuation,  $89,450. 

These  papers  are  published  by  the  following   agencies: 


76  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

Single  individuals,  thirty-nine;  firms,  eighteen;  religious 
societies,  ten;  secret  or  other  societies,  three. 

The  Negro  newspaper  has  not  yet  gained  an  assured  foot- 
ing, but  it  is  rapidly  becoming  a  social  force.  Nearly  all 
Negro  families  read  them,  and  while  the  papers  are  not  yet 
strong  enough  to  mould  opinion,  they  are  beginning  to  play 
a  peculiar  part  in  reflecting  it. 

There  exists  today  no  better  means  of  forming,  directing, 
and  crystallizing  Negro  public  opinion  than  by  means  of  the 
press.  A  strong,  fearless,  national  newspaper  or  magazine 
which  the  Negroes  could  feel  was  their  own,  with  sane  views 
as  to  work,  wealth  and  culture,  could  become,  in  years,  a 
vast  power  among  Negroes.  Here  is  a  chance  for  a  peculiar 
sort  of  philanthropic  work,  and  one  hitherto  little  tried — the 
endowed  periodical.  Fifty  thousand  dollars  might,  with 
care  and  foresight,  launch  a  social  force  in  the  American 
world  which  would  be  of  vast  weight  in  guiding  us  toward 
the  proper  settlement  of  many  vexed  Negro  problems. 

SOJOURNER.    TRUTH. 

An  act  of  the  legislature  of  New  York,  in  1811,  liberated 
at  once  all  slaves  that  were  forty  years  of  age,  and  provided 
that  certain  others  should  go  free  in  1828,  while  the  children 
were  to  be  free  on  reaching  twenty-one.  Among  those  en- 
titled to  freedom  in  1828  was  a  Negro  girl  named  Isabella, 
who  had  formerly  belonged  to  the  family  of  a  Colonel  Ardin- 
burgh,  of  Hurley,  Ulster  county.  She  was  subsequently 
twice  sold.  Her  last  master  promised  to  set  her  free  in 
1827,  a  year  before  the  time  provided  by  law,  but  he  refused 
to  keep  his  promise,  and  she  left  him  without  his  consent — 
the  matter  being  finally  settled  by  another  man  paying  for 
the  year's  time. 

She  now  took  for  herself  the  singular  name  of  Sojournei 
Truth — given  her,  she  said,  by  the  Lord,  because  she  was 
to  take  up  the  work  of  traveling  and  speaking  to  the  people 
She  was  wholly  untaught,  and  had  to  rely  upon  the  reading 


IN  HISTORY,  AND  IN  CITIZENSHIP.  77 

of  others  for  such  knowledge  as  she  required  from  books; 
but  having  a  quick  mind  and  a  retentive  memory,  she  soon 
had  much  of  the  Bible  and  a  number  of  hymns  at  her 
tongue's  end,  and  became  a  rough  but  eloquent  and  thrill- 
ing speaker — devoting  her  time  to  public  meetings  and 
private  ministrations,  seeking  in  every  way  in  her  power  to 
work  reforms  in  individual  lives  and  public  policies.  During 
the  Civil  War  she  was  active  in  behalf  of  colored  soldiers. 

She  has  been  described  as  having  had  a  ready  and  pungent 
wit,  the  power  of  presence  and  movement  which  magnetizes 
and  sways  people,  and  the  rare  faculty  of  condensing  an 
argument  into  a  single  convincing  remark  or  question. 

She  conceived  a  plan  to  colonize  the  freedmen  in  the  West, 
and  traveled  extensively  obtaining  signatures  to  a  petition 
to  Congress  to  provide  for  carrying  out  the  scheme.  Con- 
gress took  no  action,  but  thousands  of  the  former  slaves 
were  influenced  by  her  work  and  her  representations  to  seek 
homes  where  they  could  be  more  independent  than  they 
could  be  as  mere  tenants  of  the  great  land-holders  of  the 
South. 

A  short  time  before  her  death  in  1883  she  claimed  to  be 
more  than  a  hundred  years  old;  but  at  that  time  she  seemed 
to  be  renewing  her  youth,  as  some  of  the  failing  senses  grew 
strong  again,  and  her  power  as  a  speaker  was  not  abated. 

Regarded  as  somewhat  of  a  prophetess,  an  oracle  stirred 
by  unaccountable  impulses,  she  has  been  called  the  Libyan 
Sibyl — with  what  propriety  we  leave  the  reader  to  judge. 
She  was,  at  any  rate,  a  remarkable  instance  of  the  innate 
strength,  profound  feelings  and  lofty  purpose  that  sometimes 
characterize  individuals  who  have  come  up  from  the  lowest 
depths  and  been  denied  even  the  rudiments  of  education. 

FREDERICK    DOUGLASS. 

The  name  of  Fred  Douglass  is  a  hoiisehold  word  among 
the  colored  people  of  the  United  States.  He  was  born  in 
Tuckahoe,  Maryland — date  not  certainly  known,  but  he  be- 
lieved it  to  be  in  February,  1817.  The  name  by  which  he 


78 

is  now  known  was  assumed  by  him  after  his  escape  from 
slavery,  which  took  place  some  time  between  1836  and  1811 
— probably  when  he  was  about  twenty-one  years  old.  Pre- 
viously he  was  known  to  his  little  world  as  Frederick 
Augustus  Washington  Bailey. 

His  autobiography  shows  that  as  a  slave  he  was  for  the 
most  part  treated  with  a  brutality  somewhat  unusual,  coming, 


FREDERICK  DOUGLASS. 


by  hire,  under  the  control  of  different  men,  and  meeting 
with  little  kindness  throughout  except  from  a  daughter  of  his 
master,  who  was  gentle  and  considerate,  and  would  have 
taught  him  to  read  had  her  husband  not  forbidden  it.  The 
latter  circumstance  seems  to  have  awakened  in  him  a  de- 
termination to  learn;  and  with  very  little  help  from  others, 
either  in  the  way  of  instruction  or  the  furnishing  of  books. 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  79 

he  became  a  fair  English  scholar.  Before  he  was  twenty 
years  old  and  while  still  a  slave,  he  taught  a  Sunday- 
school  and  began  his  career  as  a  public  speaker  by  preaching. 
In  18-11  he  addressed  a  white  audience  for  the  first  time,  and 
with  such  effect  that  he  was  soon  afterward  employed  by  the 
Massachusetts  Anti-Slavery  Society  to  lecture,  in  which 
work  he  continued  for  four  years,  and  soon  came  to  be  recog- 
nized as  a  great  orator — a  man  of  that  true  eloquence  which 
holds  an  audience  and  makes  profound  and  lasting  impres- 
sions. 

He  published  his  autobiography  in  1845,  which  dealt  in 
such  severe  terms  with  those  who  had  held  him  in  bondage, 
and  still  claimed  ownership,  that  it  enraged  them  and  made 
his  stay,  even  in  a  free  State,  so  precarious  that  he  was  glad 
to  accept  an  invitation  to  lecture  in  Great  Britain.  While 
he  was  there  a  Mrs.  Richardson  collected  money  and  bought 
his  freedom,  and  he  soon  afterward  returned  to  the  United 
States. 

In  London  he  was  not  only  kindly  but  flatteringly  re- 
ceived, and  his  demeanor  and  his  power  as  an  orator  won  the 
admiration  of  even  the  statesmen  and  nobility — some  of 
whom  treated  him  with  marked  consideration. 

Thenceforth  he  was  one  of  the  most  active  and  aggressive 
of  those  who  advocated  the  freedom  of  the  slaves.  As  an 
editor,  a  contributor  to  newspapers  and  magazines,  a  public 
speaker — a  worker  in  whatever  line  promised  the  success  of 
abolition  schemes,  he  was  one  of  the  most  notable  and  ef- 
ficient among  many  who  gave  their  time  and  talents  and 
means  to  the  cause.  When  the  war  came  on,  he  was  im- 
patient with  the  action  of  President  Lincoln  and  Congress, 
and  urgent  to  have  the  government  adopt  a  line. of  policy 
which  the  far-seeing  and  prudent  Lincoln  regarded  as  dan- 
gerous to  the  perpetuity  of  the  Union,  if  not  at  the  time 
impracticable;  but  he  had  the  satisfaction  before  the  war 
closed  of  having  his  dearest  wishes  realized. 

In  1871  he  was  appointed  secretary  to  the  Santo  Domingo 


80  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

Commission;  in  1872  he  was  chosen  one  of  the  presidential 
electors  for  the  State  of  New  York;  President  Hayes  ap- 
pointed him  marshal  of  the  District  of  Columbia;  President 
Garfield  appointed  him  recorder  of  deeds  for  the  District  of 
Columbia;  and  President  Harrison  made  him  minister  to 
Hayti.  At  the  great  World's  Fair  at  Chicago  he  had  charge 
of  Hayti's  exhibit. 

He  has  been  described  as  "a  tall,  dark  mulatto,  a  bold, 
vigorous,  earnest  and  fluent  speaker,  and  an  able  debater." 

His  character  and  career  vindicate  the  claim  of  the  opti- 
mistic of  his  race  and  of  thoughtful  white  men  that  the  Negro 
has  in  him  the  elements  from  which  may  be  evolved  the 
orator,  the  statesman,  the  true  philanthropist,  and  the  man  of 
honor. 

He  died  in  1895,  being  then,  as  was  believed,  seventy- 
eight  years  old. 


CHAPTER  IV, 
THE  NEGRO  IN  LAW,  MEDICINE  AND  DIVINITY. 

T^ROM  the  reports  of  the  Annual  Conferences  held  in  At- 
lanta, Georgia,  to  inquire  into  the  condition  of  the  col- 
ored people  in  the  United  States,  and  from  other  sources  of 
information,  we  learn  that  many  of  the  graduates  of  the  great 
schools  have  entered  the  legal  and  medical  professions,  and 
that  there  are  many  able  and  successful  practitioners,  and 
some  who  have  filled  and  are  filling  places  of  honor  and  pub- 
lic trust. 

We  give  the  names  of  a  few  as  an  indication  that  colored 
people  are  making  their  way  in  the  learned  professions  in 
widely  diverse  localities. 

About  twenty  years  ago,  Miss  Charlotte  E.  Ray,  whom  a 
friendly  lady  writer  described  as  "a  dusky  mulatto,"  a  grad- 
uate of  the  Law  College  of  Howard  University,  was  admitted 
to  practice  at  the  bar  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  District  of 
Columbia — the  first  woman  lawyer  ever  recognized  in  Wash- 
ington City. 

It  is  said  that  a  Negro  who  was  born  in  Georgia  is  one  of 
the  best  lawyers  in  Paris,  France. 

Louis  B.  Anderson  has  been  assistant  county  attorney  for 
Cook  county,  Illinois. 

Ferdinand  L.  Barnett  is  assistant  state's  attorney  of  Illi- 
nois. 

Before  the  war  some  Negroes  were  prominent  practitioners 
before  the  Boston  bar,  as  Robert  Morris,  E.  G.  Walker,  and 
others. 

S.  Laing  Williams,  a  graduate  of  the  University  of  Mich- 
igan and  of  the  Columbia  Law  School,  is  a  practicing  lawyer 
in  Chicago. 

81 


82  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

MissLutie  A.  Lytle  is  a  teacher  in  the  Law  Department  of 
the  Central  Tennessee  College,  Nashville,  Tennessee. 

James  Derham,  born  a  slave  in  Philadelphia,  in  1762, 
belonged  to  a  physician  who  had  him  taught  to  read  and 
write,  and  then  employed  him  in  compounding  medicine  and 
in  other  work  in  connection  with  the  profession.  He  ulti- 
mately became  so  skillful  in  medicine  as  to  be  employed  as 
assistant  to  a  new  master  (also  a  physician)  to  whom  he  had 
been  sold;  soon  afterward  he  purchased  his  freedom,  and 
then  built  up  a  lucrative  practice;  he  added  to  his  professional 
knowledge  an  acquaintance  with  the  French  and  Spanish' 
languages;  and  at  twenty-six  years  of  age  he  was  one  of  the 
most  eminent  physicians  in  New  Orleans.  The  celebrated 
Doctor  Rush,  of  Philadelphia,  published  in  The  American 
Museum  an  account  of  him  in  which  he  spoke  of  his  attain- 
ments and  skill  in  the  highest  terms. 

John  R.  Rock  and  John  V.  DeQrasse  were  able  and  suc- 
cessful physicians  in  Boston,  between  1850  and  1860.  On 
the  24th  of  August,  1854,  De  Grasse  was  admitted  to  mem- 
bership in  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society. 

Edward  Wilson,  a  graduate  of  Williams  College,  is  a  prac- 
ticing lawyer  in  Chicago. 

J.  Frank  Wheaton,  a  lawyer,  was  the  first  colored  man  to 
be  elected  to  the  legislature  in  Minnesota. 

Dr.  J.  Frank  McKinley,  a  graduate  of  the  Medical  Depart- 
ment of  the  University  of  Michigan,  is  a  noted  practicing 
physician  and  surgeon. 

Another  graduate  of  the  Medical  Department  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Michigan,  Dr.  John  R.  Francis,  is  one  of  the  best 
known  physicians  in  Washington,  D.  C. 

Dr.  Daniel  H.  Williams,  of  Chicago,  was  the  founder  of 
Provident  Hospital  and  Training  School.  He  was  appointed 
by  President  Cleveland  to  be  surgeon-in-chief  of  the  great 
Freedmen's  Hospital,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Belle  Garnet,  a  student  of  medicine,  is  a  graduate  nurse 
of  Provident  Hospital  and  Training  School,  Chicago. 


/#  HISTORY,  AND  IN  CITIZENSHIP.  &% 

Dentistry  is  so  allied  to  medicine  and  surgery  that  we 
may  mention  in  this  connection  Ida  Gray  Nelson,  D. 
D.  S.,  a  graduate  of  Ann  Arbor  University,  Michigan, 
who  is  said  to  be  the  only  colored  woman  dentist  in  the 
United  States. 

As  noticed  in  another  chapter,  at  least  eight  colored  men 
were  commissioned  by  President  Lincoln  surgeons  for  hos- 
pital and  field  duty  during  the  Civil  War. 

We  give  here  portraits  and  brief  sketches  of  two  persons 
who  have  distinguished  themselves  in  this  field. 

There  was  never  a  time  in  our  history  when  the  race  had 
so  many  examples  of  substantial  and  permanent  progress  as 
it  has  to-day.  In  every  city  and  hamlet  there  is  the  teacher, 
the  artisan,  the  lawyer,  the  doctor  and  the  business  man, 
emphasizing  in  their  great  progress  the  upward  movement 
of  the  Negro  throughout  the  country. 

Dr.  William  F.  Penn,  of  Atlanta,  Georgia,  who  is  one  of  the 
leading  colored  physicians  of  that  city,  was  born  in  Amherst 
county,  Virginia,  in  1870.  His  parents  took  him  to  Lynch- 
burg  early  in  life  and  there  entered  him  in  the  schools.  From 
the  Lynchburg  schools  he  went  to  the  Hampton  Normal  and 
Agricultural  Institute,  and  from  there  to  the  Virginia  Normal 
and  Collegiate  Institute,  from  which  he  graduated  in  1891. 
After  graduating  he  taught  in  the  city  schools  of  Lynchburg, 
Virginia,  resigning  to  pursue  a  medical  course  in  the  Leonard 
Medical  School,  at  Raleigh,  North  Carolina,  from  which  he 
went  in  1893  to  Yale  University,  New  Haven,  Connecticut, 
and  graduated  from  the  medical  department  of  that  world- 
famed  institution  in  1897,  taking  high  rank  in  all  of  his 
classes  until  the  day  of  graduation. 

His  standing  in  his  class  may  be  seen  by  the  fact  that  he 
was  the  first  Negro  ever  chosen  in  the  medical  school  as  one 
of  the  editors  of  the  "Class  Book,"  which  goes  down  in  his- 
tory as  a  record  of  graduates,  etc. 

For  awhile  he  was  one  of  the  internes  at  Freedrnen's  Hos- 
pital, Washington,  D.  C.,  under  Doctor  Williams,  then 


84 


THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 


surgeon-in-chief ,  and  was  regarded  as  one  of  the  best  in- 
formed and  most  skillful  men  on  the  staff. 

Doctor  Penn  went  to  Atlanta  in  1897  to  practice  medicine, 
and  from  the  start  took  front  rank  among  his  people.  Ten 
days  after  he  began  praqtice  there  he  was  selected  by  the 


DR.  WIUJAM  F.  PENN,  ATLANTA,  GEORGIA. 

city  as  one  of  the  two  colored  physicians  to  vaccinate  the 
colored  population  of  the  city. 

By  official  preferment  he  is  the  physician  to  the  following 
institutions  of  learning  in  Atlanta:  Atlanta  University, 
Clark  University,  Gammon  Theological  Seminary.  He  has 
been  called  from  Atlanta  into  other  sections  of  Georgia  sev- 
eral times  to  perform  difficult  surgical  operations,  which  lie 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  85 

has  done  with  great  success.     As  a  physician  he  is  regarded 
highly,  as  the  steady  growth  of  his  practice  attests. 

The  first  colored  person  to  finish  any  graduate  course  in 
the  University  of  Minnesota,  is  McCants  Stewart,  son  of 
T.  McCants  Stewart,  now  an  attorney  of  Honolulu,  Hawaii. 
Mr.  Stewart  received  the  Master's  degree  in  law  in  1900. 


MCCANTS  STEWART,  A.  M. 

He  began  the  study  of  law  in  New  York  City.  In  1896-7 
he  attended  the  New  York  University,  taking  special  work 
and  beginning  the  law  course.  He  went  to  Minnesota  and 
entered  the  law  school  in  the  fall  of  1897,  finishing  with  the 
class  of  '99.  He  was  secretary  of  his  class  in  his  senior 
year,  and  was  an  active  member  of  the  Kent  Literary  Society, 
representing  the  society  in  the  '98- '99  oratorical  contest. 

NAUCISSA    WEST. 

Narcissa  West  was  born  in  Bdgefield  county,  South  Caro- 
lina, May  15,  1867.  She  entered  Spelman  Seminary,  Janu- 
ary 1,  1886.  She  was  graduated  from  the  nurse  training  de- 


THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 


partment  with  honor  in  May,  1889,  but  feeling  the  need  of 
a  more  thorough  general  education,  she  continued  her  studies 
in  Spelman  till  May,  1892,  when  she  finished  her  academic 
course  and  received  her  diploma.  Since  that  time  she  has 
pursued  the  profession  of  a  trained  nurse,  in  Atlanta,  with 
marked  success.  She  is  continually  in  demand,  and  is  held 
in  high  esteem,  both  by  the  physicians  and  the  patients  with 
whom  she  labors.  There  is  always  a  note  of  satisfaction 
when  she  can  be  secured  for  a  serious  case.  She  has  been 

able,  also,  to  demonstrate  that 
the  profession  of  a  trained 
nurse  is  a  paying  one. 

The  list  of  men  and  women 
who  have  attained  to  distinc- 
tion as  church  officers,  minis- 
ters, missionaries  and  other 
religious  teachers  is  long  and 
imposing.  We  give  in  the  fol- 
lowing pages  portraits  and  bio- 
graphical sketches  of  church 
people  in  sufficient  number  and 
variety  to  show  how  the  race 
has  asserted  itself  in  this  great 
department  of  the  world's  duty 
and  endeavor.  It.  is  perhaps 
not  irrelevant  to  instance  here 
two  persons  whom  we  have  not  mentioned  elsewhere.  It 
is  said  that  one  of  the  eminent  divines  in  London,  En- 
gland, is  a  full-blooded  Negro  who  was  born  in  Alabama;  and 
in  "The Triumphs  of  theCr-^ss,"  E.  P.  Tenney,  the  author, 
says  that  ua  former  slave  of  the  late  Confederate  President, 
Jefferson  Davis,  translated  the  Bible  into  the  Sweetsa  tongue, 
spoken  by  300,000  Africans." 

The  Rev.  Duke  W.  Anderson,  a  mulatto  born  in  Illinois 
in  1812,  led  a  busy  and  consecrated  life  as  a  minister  of 
the  gospel,  a  teacher  and  an  anti-slavery  worker.  A  man 


NARCISSA  WEST. 


ttf   HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  87 

of  commanding  presence,  great  natural  ability,  profound 
earnestness  and  remarkable  conciliatory  as  well  as  aggressive 
powers,  he  deserves  to  rank,  in  some  respects,  with  Fred 
Douglass  as  a  representative  of  the  race. 

Most  of  the  colored  Christians  of  the  United  State's  have 
allied  themselves  with  the  Methodists  and  Baptists,  though 
there  are  many  Presbyterians,  Protestant  Episcopalians,  Dis- 
ciples of  Christ  and  Roman  Catholics.  From  the  "Illustrated 
History  of  Methodism"  we  get  material  which  enables  us  to 
sketch  briefly  the  rise  of  various  separate  Methodist  societies 
in  America,  and  an  examination  of  the  following  illustra- 
tions and  accompanying  life-sketches,  with  some  figures  we 
give  here,  will  indicate  that  the  colored  Baptists  are  a  mighty 
organization.  According  to  latest  reliable  statistics,  there 
were  in  the  United  States  1,584,920  Regular  (colored) 
Baptists,  with  9,663  ministers  and  14,863  churches;  African 
Methodist  Episcopal  members,  641,727,  with  5,245  ministers 
and  5,671  churches;  African  Union  Methodist  Protestant 
members,  3,437,  with  102  ministers  and  86  churches;  African 
Methodist  Episcopal  Zion  members,  528,461,  with  2,902 
ministers  and  1,808  churches;  Congregational  Methodist 
members,  319,  with  5  ministers  and  5  churches;  Colored 
Methodist  Episcopal  members,  204,317,  with  2,039  ministers 
and  1,427  churches.  There  are  about  40,000  Cumberland 
Presbyterians,  with  450  ministers  and  400  churches.  As  in- 
timated above,  these  figures  do  not  give  the  'full  strength  of 
the  colored  religious  bodies,  as  there  are  several  organiza- 
tions concerning  whose  membership  and  church  holdings  we 
have  no  statistics. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  in  this  connection  that  colored 
Methodists  in  the  United  States  began  to  move  for  separate 
existence  more  than  a  hundred  years  ago,  and  that  long  be- 
fore the  Civil  War  there  were  separate  organizations  well 
administered  by  bishops,  elders  and  pastors. 


REV.  JOHN  JASPER. 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP. 


89 


THE   AFRICAN    ZION  METHODIST   EPISCOPAL   CHVR.CH. 

In  1821  a  considerable  secession  from  the  Methodist 
Church  took  place  in  New  York,  led  by  the  Rev.  W.  M. 
Still  well,  who  took  umbrage 
at  certain  legislation  de- 
signed for  the  better  secur- 
ity of  church  property  , 
which  he  viewed  as  usurpa- 
tion of  the  rights  of  congre- 
gations. Several  hundred 
local  preachers  and  members 
in  good  standing  were  in- 
duced to  secede  with  him; 
and  he  also  prevailed  on  a 
congregation  of  African 
Methodists  to  leave  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
— which  was  the  nucleus  of 


the     present   African    Zion  P         ff,KVAfJOSEP? J<  • 

Bishop  of  the  African  Zion  Methodist  Episcopal 

Church;  bom  in  Philadelphia,  1823;  elected 

bishop  in  1856, 


Methodist  Episcopal  Church 


THE  R.EV.  JOHN  JASPER. 

The  career  of  this  man — a  full-blooded  African — was  ex- 
traordinary. Born  a  slave,  never  educated  in  the  schools, 
toiling  as  slaves  were  required  to  toil  until  freedom  came  to 
him  when  he  was  past  the  noonday  of  life,  he  rose  to  dis- 
tinction that  was  wide  as  the  continent — impressing  himself 
upon  the  times  as  only  the  earnest  and  intellectually  strong 
man  can  do. 

The  youngest  of  twenty-four  children,  he  was  born  in 
Fluvanna  county,  Virginia,  July  4,  1812.  He  professed 
Christianity  when  he  was  twenty-seven  years  old,  and  soon 
afterward  began  to  preach.  By  some  means  he  had  learned 
to  read,  and  thenceforth  the  Bible  seems  to  have  been  his  one 
book.  As  a  preacher  he  attracted  attention  almost  from  the 
start,  and  soon  came  to  be  in  great  demand  for  funeral  ser- 


§0  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

mons.  He  preached  to  Baptist  congregations  in  Richmond 
and  Petersburg!!  —  chiefly  in  Richmond — for  about  forty 
years;  and  though  devoted  to  his  calling  rather  than  to  the 
accumulation  of  property,  he  acquired  considerable  wealth. 
He  traveled  a  good  deal  during  this  time,  visiting  most  of 
the  leading  cities  in  the  Union,  lecturing  and  preaching. 

In  the  Religious  Herald,  of  Richmond,  Virginia,  April 
11,  1901,  William  H.  Hatcher  published  the  following 
sketch: 

"When  John  Jasper  passed  away  from  the  earth,  he 
left  no  successor.  He  is  the  last  of  his  race,  and  we 
shall  not  see  his  like  again.  He  lacked  a  fraction  of  being 
four-score  and  ten,  and  had  been  a  preacher  for  sixty-two 
years.  The  pulpit  was  his  throne,  and  he  and  the  peerless 
queen  of  Knglaud  reigned  in  their  respective  spheres  about 
the  same  length  of  time. 

*  'Freedom  did  little  for  Jasper.  It  came  too  late  to  touch 
him  with  its  moulding  hand.  It  never  dazzled  him  nor 
crooked  him  with  prejudices  against  the  white  people.  He 
clung  far  more  to  the  traditions  and  sentiments  of  his  bond- 
age days  than  to  the  new  things  which  freedom  brought. 
He  never  took  up  with  the  gaudy  displays  which  marked 
his  race  in  the  early  days  of  emancipation.  He  held  on  to 
the  old  ways.  He  intoned  in  his  preaching,  spurned  the 
accomplishments  of  the  schools,  sang  the  weird  songs  of  his 
early  days,  and  thought  himself  set  to  smash  all  the  new- 
fangled notions"  which  possessed  his  race. 

"Personally  Jasper  was  above  all  reproach.  There  was  no 
whisper  against  his  moral  character.  He  loved  justice  and 
not  only  practiced  it,  but  he  demanded  it  at  the  hands  of 
others.  Those  who  treated  him  ill  he  would  scourge  with 
knotted  whips.  Not  a  few  of  the  "educated  fools,"  as  he 
scornfully  styled  some  who  sneered  at  his  ignorance,  felt  the 
power  of  his  blows,  as  he  sometimes  denounced  them  for 
their  criticisms  of  him.  The  fact  is  he  was  a  born  fighter. 
Fear  never  shook  his  frame.  He  would  have  attacked  a 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  91 

regiment,  if  lie  had  felt  that  it  was  his  duty  to  do  so.  Much 
of  his  preaching  was  denunciatory.  Friends  would  report 
to  him  ill  things  said  of  him  during  the  week,  and  he  would 
return  the  fire  in  his  sermon  the  next  Sunday  afternoon. 
But  there  was  a  charm  in  his  resentments.  He  always  iden- 
tified himself  with  the  Lord,  and  the  assaults  made  upon 
him  he  treated  as  wrongs  offered  to  heaven.  There  was  in 
him.  a  lofty,  almost  sublime,  contempt  for  opposition,  and 
yet  he  rarely  seemed  angered  by  the  blows  struck  at  him. 
He  mingled  such  odd  hits  and  telling  jests  at  the  expense 
of  his  opponents  that  he  never  showed  much  hostility 
against  them.  His  chief  weapon  was  ridicule,  and  that  he 
used  with  crushing  skill.  He  may  have  despised  his  ene- 
mies, but  he  did  not  hate  them. 

"His  speech  was  execrably  ungrammatical,  though  his 
later  reading  and  study  probably  rooted  out  some  of  the 
lingual  excrescences  of  his  early  days.  But  his  power  to 
express  an  idea  was  unsurpassed,  and  it  often  occurred  that, 
when  his  dictionary  gave  out,  he  could  use  the  wrong  word, 
and  yet,  by  his  manner  and  tone,  make  it -convey  his  mean- 
ing. For  my  part,  I  had  the  impression  that  when  he  was 
at  his  happy  elevations  of  feeling  he  did  not- need  words  very 
much;  he  could  flash  the  thought  out  of  his  eye,  wave  it  out 
by  the  sweep  of  his  hand,  or  cast  it  forth  by  some  queer 
movement  of  his  body.  Often  his  greatest  achievements 
were  not  by  word,  but  by  long  pauses  or  by  little  confiden- 
tial laughs,  as  if  no  one  was  present  except  him  and  him- 
self, and  the  two  were  having  the  jolliest  time  together. 

*  'Brother  Jasper  was  great  on  argument.  He  could  not  con- 
struct a  perfect  syllogism,  but  he  had  a  way  of  his  own, 
vigorous  and  confident,  which  showed  that  he  stood  ready  to 
prove  all  that  he  said.  Indeed,  he  had  the- habit  of  chal- 
lenging all  comers  to  answer  him,  and  he  insisted  that,  if 
what  he  said  was  not  according  to  the  Bible,  those  who  dis- 
covered it  should  take  the  road  and  proclaim  far  and  wide 
that  John  Jasper  was  a  liar.  By  the  way,  I  heard  him  say 


92  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

one  time,  with  affecting  simplicity:  'Bruthr'n,  God  Al- 
mighty never  lies;  he  can't  lie.  I'm  sorry  to  say  it,  but  I 
lies  sometimes.  I  oughtn't  to  lie,  an'  I'm  tryin'  to  quit  it; 
but  God  never  lies.'  This  he  said  in  a  tone  so  honest  and 
candid  that  I  am  sure  the  people  loved  him  and  believed  in 
him  more  than  ever.  A  hypocrite  would  never  have  said 
such  a  thing. 

"Many  good  people  were  out  of  patience  with  John  Jas- 
per because  of  his  sermon  on  the  'Sun  Do  Move.'  For 
my  own  part,  I  deplored  his  mistake,  as  it  seemed  to  me 
to  be  wasting  his  strength  in  dealing  with  a  question  which 
he  did  not  understand.  I  heard  the  sermon  on  one  occa- 
sion, without  really  intending  to  do  so,  and  I  felt  that, 
taken  altogether,  it  was  the  weakest  thing  that  I  ever 
heard  from  him.  It  presented  him  to  the  public  in  a  light 
which  seemed  to  me  most  unfortunate.  At  the  same  time, 
his  position  was  exceedingly  simple.  It  was  characteristic 
of  the  honesty  and  devoutness  of  the  man.  The  Bible 
spoke  of  the  sun  as  a  moving  body.  That  was  plain  as 
daylight  to  him.  Here  came  the  science  men  asserting  that 
the  sun  did  not  rise  and  set.  Now,  Jasper's  general  infor- 
mation did  not  enable  him  to  reconcile  the  two  things.  To 
him  they  were  flat  contradictions,  and  he  had  to  choose  be- 
tween the  two.  He  stood  by  the  Bible. 

''Outside  of  the  Bible,  Jasper  knew  very  little.  He  did 
not  know  books,  and  largely  held  himself  aloof  from  people. 
He  did  not  lack  very  much  of  being  a  hermit  in  his  daily 
life.  He  had  a  cultivated  reserve,  and  was  busy  with  the 
Bible.  That  he  conned  with  unflagging  industry.  With 
its  historical  portions  he  was  well  acquainted,  especially 
with  those  portions  that  were  picturesque,  and  furnished  full 
play  for  his  imagination.  He  was  also  deeply  versed  in  the 
doctrines  of  grace,  and  had  had  glorious  experiences  of 
their  truth  in  his  own  checkered  and  rugged  life. 

"I  never  asked  him  how  he  prepared  his  sermons;  but  they 
bore  marks  of  care  and  patience  in  their  making.  He  had 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  93 

special  sermons — I  should  say  a  great  many  of  them — and 
he  did  not  hesitate  to  preach  them  over  and  over  again. 
They  did  not  suffer  by  repetition,  for  the  occasion  always 
imparted  sufficient  coloring  to  each  delivery  of  a  sermon  to 
give  it  freshness.  There  were  few  ruts  into  which  he  ever 
ran,  and  even  his  old  sayings  would  glow  with  the  heat  of 
his  soul.  Old  sermons  are  as  good  as  new,  provided  the 
preacher  puts  as  much  life  in  them  as  he  did  when  they  were 
new.  He  carried  no  paper  into  the  pulpit,  and  his  mind  was 
wonderfully  active  when  he  spoke.  He  always  swung  loose, 
and,  while  he  seemed  restrained  and  almost  tedious  in  his 
exordium,  he  never  failed  to  climb  the  hills  of  celestial  glory 
before  he  finished.  If  his  theme  was  of  the  historic  order, 
he  would  paint  pictures  that  would  bum  into  your  soul  and 
remain  there  to  the  end.  If  he  was  on  some  cardinal  doc- 
trine, like  regeneration  or  victory  over  sin,  his  soul  would 
catch  fire,  and  there  would  invariably  be  a  congregational 
conflagration.  I  remember  more  of  the  things  that  I  have 
heard  Jasper  say  than  I  could  recall  of  all  the  things  that 
I  ever  heard  other  preachers  say  in  all  my  life.  This  may 
be  too  strongly  put,  but  I  do  not  really  think, so. 

"It  took  a  funeral  to  put  Jasper  at  his  best.  It  always 
brought  him  in  sight  of  death  and  eternity,  and  kindled  the 
fires  of  his  .imagination.  But  he  was  terribly  conscien- 
tious in  speaking  of  the  dead.  If  they  brought  great  sinners 
to  his  church  and  asked  him  to  hold  the  funeral  services,  he 
would  do  it,  but  he  would  throw  no  mantle  over  the  sins  of 
his  subject.  If  he  really  believed  the  man  had  died  without  a 
well-grounded  Christian  hope,  he  would  unceremoniously 
and  without  apology  preach  him  straight  to  the  bottomless 
pit.  I  could  give  startling  illustrations  of  this  remark. 

"I  have  indicated  the  predominant  characteristic  of  this 
unique  and  godly  minister.  It  was  his  brilliant,  magnetic, 
courageous  imagination.  It  covered  all  his  defects,  disarmed 
criticism,  lifted  people  to  the  skies,  and  made  that  ill-shapen, 
odd- voiced,  ungrammatical  old  preacher  glow  with  a  luster 


94  THE    NEGRO    IN   REVELATION, 

and  grandeur  which,  transfigured  him.  Several  times,  I 
confess,  he  cut  all  my  moorings  and  wafted  me  to  the  gates 
of  the  spirit  world.  It  was  irresistibly  affecting  to  hear  him 
speak  of  heaven.  It  seemed  to  overmaster  him,  and  it 
made  him  the  master  of  others.  Of  course,  his  views  of 
heaven  were  very  simple.  Oh,  how  deeply  he  believed  in  it! 
Rapturous  visions  of  the  Lamb  on  the  throne  and  of  the 
redeemed  in  their  mansions  possessed  him,  and  it  was  an 
experience  not  to  be  forgotten  to  feel  the  spell  of  his  eloquence 
at  such  a  time. 

'  'Nor  did  his  heart  sink  when  the  final  crisis  came.  In 
his  own  bright  way,  he  declared  that  his  trunk  was  packed 
and  he  was  waiting  for  orders  to  move  up.  As  for  death,  he 
said  that  the  approach  of  death  bothered  him  no  more  than 
the  crawling  of  a  summer  fly.  I  think  of  his  stern  life,  so 
marked  by  battle  and  defiance,  so  filled  with  sorrows,  and 
recall  with  emotion  how  he  used  to  solace  himself  with  the 
assurances  of  coming  rest,  and  I  doubt  not  that  he  was  glad 
when  it  came.  Peaceful  be  the  brave  old  warrior's  sleep  ! 

"I  send  this  paper  at  the  Herald? s  request.  It  has  been 
dashed  off  in  a  day  when  duties  new  and  old  are  striving  for 
a  place,  and  is  unworthy,  I  well  know,  of  my  rare  and  royal 
theme.  Few  knew  John  Jasper  as  I  did,  none  loved  or  be- 
lieved in  him  more  than  I  did,  and  I  now  lament  him  as  a 
friend.  He  did  me  good  while  he  lived,  and  I  honor  him  in 
his  death,  as  I  did  sincerely  honor  him  in  his  life.  This 
article  only  gives  glimpses.  It  has  no  place  for  the  story  of 
his  life,  nor  for  the  record  of  his  ministerial  labors,  nor  yet 
for  that  rich  fund  of  humor,  satire  and  illustration  in  which 
his  life  abounded.  Many  of  these  things,  with  extracts 
from  his  sermons,  piquant  sayings,  and  descriptions  of  his 
characteristic  actions,  I  committed  to  paper  a  while  ago,  but 
I  must  omit  them  from  an  article  already  too  long." 

The  author  of  a  book  of  sketches  published  several  years 
ago,  referring  to  Jasper's  theory  of  the  sun,  says:  "He  was 
always  of  an  astronomical  turn  of  mind,  and  if  he  had  had  the 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP. 


95 


advantage  of  education,  he  would  doubtless  have  made  one 
of  the  foremost  scientists  of  his  time."  He  was  married 
three  times,  and,  as  indicated  above,  seemed  to  prefer  home 
life  rather  than  that  of  a  keeper  of  promiscuous  company. 
The  writer  above  alluded  to  says  that  "from  the  humblest 
surroundings  in  early  life  he  rose  to  influence,  and  is  a 
striking  illustration  of  what  can  be  accomplished  by  industry 
and  perseverance." 

BISHOPS    FKANCIS    BURINS    AND  JOHN   WRIGHT    ROBERTS. 

Bishop  Levi  Scott,  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
who  was  raised  to  the  episcopate  by  the  Seventeenth  Annual 
Conference  of  that  church, 
at  Boston,  Massachusetts, 
began  his  episcopal  work 
by  visiting  Africa,  where 
he  presided  at  the  Liberia 
Conference,  founded  by 

Americans The 

report  he  brought  back  of 
his  work  and  impressions 
in  that  colony  formed  a  not- 
able item  in  the  address  of 
the  bishops  in  1856  .... 
As  a  result  of  Bishop 

r^  i  1        • 

bcott  s  recommendations, 
permission  was  granted  to 
the  Liberia  Conference  to 
elect  an  elder  in  good  stand- 
ing to  the  office  of  bishop. 

This    WaS  followed  in  JanU-  1.  Francis  Burns,   Missionary  Bishop  of   the 

-.  Q<-Q      i  ,-i  -I        ,  •  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  Western  Africa, 

ary,    loOo,     by    tne    election       1858-1863.     2.    John   Wright  Roberts,  Missionary 

in   Liberia    of    Francis     Bishop for Africa>  1866-1875- 
Burns,  the  first  colored  bishop  in  the  church.     Burns  was  a 
native  of  Albany,  New  York,  and  had  early  shown  signs  of 
character  and  ability.    In  1834  he  was  sent  to  Liberia,  where 


96 


THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 


he  did  excellent  work  as  an  evangelist  and  as  a  teacher  in 
Monrovia  Seminary,  and  later  as  presiding  elder.  Returning 
to  his  native  land  to  be  consecrated,  he  was  duly  ordained  at 
the  Genesee  Conference  by  Bishops  Jaynes  and  Baker.  His 
career  as  bishop  in  Liberia  lasted  for  barely  five  years.  With 
the  view  of  regaining  health  he  sailed  for  Baltimore  in  the 
spring  of  1863,  but  died  a  few  days  after  disembarking.  His 
character  was  a  high  and  consistent  one.  He  was  succeeded 
in  office  by  John  Wright  Roberts,  who  was  ordained  three 
years  afterward.  Roberts  vigorously  carried  forward  the 
work  wisely  begun  by  his  predecessor,  and  at  his  death,  in 
1875,  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  Africa  numbered 
more  than  two  hundred  thousand  members. 

R.EV.    W.    J.    HOWARD. 

Rev.  W.  J.  Howard,  pastor  of  Zion  Baptist  Church,  was 
born  near  Fredericksburg,  Virginia,  of  slave  parents,  June 
15,  1854.  His  father,  a  man  of  unusual  intelligence  and 
business  capacity,  died  in  1858.  The  lad  spent  most  of  his 
time  on  the  farm  until  1869,  when,  at  fifteen  years  of  age, 

he  went  to  Washington, 
where  for  seven  years  he 
worked  in  barber  shops  and 
hotels,  meanwhile  attending 
night  and  Sunday-school. 
In  1877  he  embarked  in 
business  for  himself;  but  in 
1881,  under  the  influence  of 
President  G.  M.  P.  King, 
he  entered  Wayland  Semi- 
nary, graduating  in  May, 
1886.  Soon  after  gradua- 
tion he  became  pastor  of  the 
Zion  Baptist  Church,  which 
honorable  position  he  has 
now  (1902)  held  for  fifteen 

REV.  W.  J.  HOWARD.  \  / 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  97 

years.  During  this  time  more  than  two  thousand  have  been 
added  to  the  church,  twelve  hundred  are  enrolled  in  its 
Sunday-school,  and  five  hundred  in  Endeavor  Societies.  His 
church  has  always  stood  for  staunch  Baptist  loyalty,  and  for 
co-operation  with  the  American  Baptist  Home  Mission  Soci- 
ety. 

JOHN   A.    WHITTED,   D.    D. 

John  A.  Whitted,  D.  D.,  was  born  near  Hillsboro,  North 
Carolina,  March  10,  1860.  He  spent  the  first  sixteen  years 
of  his  life  upon  the 
farm.  At  seven  years 
of  age  he  began  attend- 
ing the  Freedmen  Aid 
Society's  School  at 
Hillsboro,  four  months 
in  the  year.  At  sixteen 
he  began  to  teach  in 
the  public  schools.  For 
the  next  five  years  he 
spent  about  five  months 
out  of  each  year  in 
study  at  Shaw  Univer- 
sity .  He  was  converted 
at  nineteen,  and  united 
with  the  Blunt  Street 
Baptist  Church,  Ra- 
leigh. At  twenty-one 

he  entered  Lincoln  University,  and  graduated  in  1885.  For 
twelve  years  he  held  the  position  of  principal  of  Shiloh  Insti- 
tute, and  pastor  of  the  church  at  Warrenton.  In  1895  he  be- 
came district  missionary,  and  then  general  missionary,  for 
the  State  of  North  Carolina,  under  the  plan  of  co-operation. 
He  has  served  as  editor  of  the  Baptist  Sentinel,  and  is  a 
member  of  the  Executive  Board  of  the  Lott  Carey  Baptist 
Foreign  Mission  Convention. 


98 


THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 


J.    W.    KIRBY,    D.   D. 

J.  W.  Kirby,  D.  D.,  was  born  of  slave  parents  in  Hamp- 
ton, Virginia,  during  the  Civil  War.  At  the  age  of  five 
years  he  was  sent  to  a  private  school;  a  little  later  he 
entered  "The  Butler  School,"  and  afterward  Hampton 

Institute,  from  which  he 
graduated  in  1880.  He 
was  converted  in  1881; 
baptized  into  the  fellow- 
ship of  the  first  Baptist 
Church,  Hampton,  and 
became  at  once  superin- 
tendent of  its  Sunday- 
school.  In  1883  he  en- 
tered the  Richmond  The- 
ological Seminary,  grad- 
uating with  honor  in 
1885.  For  six  years  he 
was  principal  of  the 
graded  school  at  Bowers 
Hill,  Virginia.  He  has 
served  as  pastor  at  Piney 
Grove  and  at  Ports- 
mouth,  where  he  built  a  beautiful  and  substantial  church 
edifice. 

For  seven  years  he  served  as  corresponding  secretary  of 
the  Virginia  Baptist  State  Convention;  about  the  same 
length  of  time  as  trustee  of  Virginia  Seminary.  In  1896 
he  accepted  the  position  of  educational  secretary,  and  as- 
sisted in  securing  funds  from  the  Negro  Baptists  of  Virginia 
for  Virginia  Union  University.  He  is  now  pastor  at  Farm- 
ville,  Virginia. 

HENRY    M.    TURNER.. 

Henry  McNeal  Turner,  son  of  Hardy  and  Sarah  (Greer) 
Turner,  was  born  at  Newberry  Court-house,  South  Carolina, 
February  1,  1834.  He  learned  to  read  and  write  without 


J.  W.  KIRBY,  D.  D. 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  <$ 

teachers;  when  fifteen  years  of  age  he  was  employed  in  a  law 
office  at  Abbeville  Court-house,  where  the  young  lawyers  as- 
sisted him  with  his  studies,  and  he  continued  to  apply  him- 
self till  he  had  learned  geography,  arithmetic,  history,  as- 
tronomy, physiology  and  hygiene.  In  1848  he  united  with 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  and  in  1853  he  was 
licensed  to  preach  among  the  colored  people  in  South  Caro- 
lina, Georgia,  Alabama  and  other  Southern  States.  In 
1858  he  transferred  his  membership  to  the  A.  M.  E.  Church; 
joined  the  Missouri  Annual  Conference  soon  afterward,  and 
became  an  itinerant  minister;  was  afterward  transferred  by 
Bishop  D.  A.  Payne  to  the  Baltimore  Annual  Conference, 
where  he  remained  four  years,  meanwhile  studying  Latin, 
Greek,  Hebrew  and  divinity  at  Trinity  College,  University 
of  Pennsylvania,  receiving  from  that  institution  the  degree 
of  LL.D.,  and  from  Wilberforce  University  that  of  D.  D. 
He  was  pastor  of  Israel  Church,  in  Washington,  D.  C.,  1863; 
was  commissioned  chaplain  of  the  United  States  colored 
troops  by  President  Lincoln  (first  colored  chaplain  ever  com- 
missioned); was  mustered  out  in  September,  1865;  was  com- 
missioned chaplain  in  the  regular  army  by  President  John- 
son; was  detailed  as  officer  of  Freedman's  Bureau  in  Georgia; 
resigned  commission  and  resumed  his  ministry;  organized 
schools  for  colored  children;  was  elected  member  of  the 
Georgia  Constitutional  Convention  in  1867;  member  of  the 
Georgia  Legislature,  1868  and  1870;  was  afterward  post- 
master at  Macon,  Georgia;  inspector  of  customs,  and  after- 
ward detective  in  the  United  States  Secret  Service.  In 
1876  he  was  elected  by  the  General  Conference  of  the  A.  M.  E. 
Church  manager  of  its  publications  at  Philadelphia;  was 
elected  bishop  by  the  General  Conference  at  St.  Louis,  Mis- 
souri, in  1880.  He  has  been  one  of  the  principal  agitators 
of  the  return  of  his  race  to  Africa,  and  has  organized  four 
Annual  Conferences  in  Africa — one  in  Sierra  Leone,  one  in 
Liberia,  one  in  Pretoria,  and  one  in  Queenstown.  He  is  the 
author  of  "Methodist  Polity,"  of  a  catechism,  various  pub- 


100  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

lished  sermons  and  lectures,  and  has  compiled  a  hymn-book 
for  the  A.  M.  B.  Church.  He  married,  in  Baltimore, 
August  16, 1900,  Mrs.  Harriet  E.  Way  man,  widow  of  the 
late  Bishop  A.  W.  Way  man. 

S.    N.    VASS,    D.    D. 

S.  N.  Vass,  D.  D.,  district  secretary  of  the  American 
Baptist  Publication  Society,  was  born  at  Raleigh,  North 
Carolina,  May  22,  1866.  After  having  attended  primary 

schools,  he  entered  St.  Au- 
gustine's Normal  and  Colle- 
giate Institute,  at  ten  years 
of  age.  Having  graduated, 
he  became  a  teacher  in  the 
public  schools.  At  eighteen 
years  of  age  he  became  a 
teacher  at  Shaw  University, 
where  he  remained  for  nine 
years.  He  received  from  the 
university  the  degrees  of  B. 
A.  in  1885,  A.  M.  in  1888, 
and  D.  D.  in  1901.  Here- 
signed  his  position  in  the  uni- 
versity to  enter  the  service 
of  the  American  Baptist  Pub- 
lication Society,  first  as  local 
missionary  and  then  (1896) 

district  secretary  for  the  South.  In  this  position  he  has  the 
general  oversight  of  the  work  of  the  society  among  the  col- 
ored people.  He  served  for  one  year  as  president  of  Howe 
Biblical  Institute,  at  Memphis,  Tennessee.  He  was  licensed 
to  preach  at  nineteen  years  of  age,  ordained  at  twenty-one, 
has  been  solicited  by  a  number  of  churches  to  become  pastor, 
but  has  served  in  that  capacity  only  one  year,  while  teaching 
in  Shaw  University. 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP. 


101 


REV.    E.    P.    JOHNSON. 

Rev.  K.  P.  Johnson  was  born  of  slave  parents  at  Colum- 
bus, Georgia,  where  he  spent  the  first  sixteen  years  of  his 
life  in  slavery.  After  spending  some  time  at  the  carpenter 
trade,  he  found  employment  on  a  farm,  where,  after  working 
during  the  day,  he  walked  a  mile  and  a  half  to  attend  night 
school.  Having  saved  out  of  his  scanty  wages  $150,  he  en- 
tered Atlanta  Univer- 
sity in  1873,  and  gradu- 
ated in  1879.  With 
some  help  from  North- 
ern friends,  he  sup- 
ported himself  during 
his  period  of  study  by 
doing  odd  jobs  and  by 
teaching  during  vaca- 
tion. After  a  valuable 
experience  as  pastor, 
teacher  and  missionary, 
he  became  the  general 
educational  missionary 
of  Georgia  in  1899,  un- 
der the  plan  of  co-opera- 
tion, and  still  holds  that 
important  office. 

As  early  as  1787  the 
colored  people  of  the 
Methodist  Society  in 
Philadelphia,  feeling  no  longer  comfortable  in  immediate 
religious  association  with  white  folks,  organized  themselves 
into  a  separate  congregation  and  began  building  a  church  of 
their  own.  This  secession  met  with  great  opposition  from 
the  Methodist  elder;  but  they  persisted  in  carrying  out  their 
plans.  The  result  was  expulsion  from  the  society.  Hap- 
pily some  large-minded  citizens  helped  them  out  in  their 
monetary  difficulties,  and  Bishop  White,  of  the  Protestant 


REV.  E    P.  JOHNSON. 


BISHOPS  OF  THE  AFRICAN  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH. 


IN  HISTORY,  AND  IN  CITIZENSHIP. 


103 


THE  AFRICAN  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH. 
TABULATED  FACTS  AS  TO  ITS  BISHOPS. 


Q 
U  ft, 

NAME 

BORN 

PLACE  OF  BIRTH 

WHERE  ELECTED 

DIED 

H  3 

1    Richard  Allen 

1760 

Philadelphia,  Pa. 

1818 

Philadelphia,  Pa. 

1831 

2    Morris  Brown 

1770 

Charleston,  S.  C. 

1828 

Philadelpnia,  Pa. 

1849 

3    Edward  Waters 

West  River,  Md. 

1832 

Philadelphia,  Pa. 

1847 

4    William  Paul  Quinn 

1795 

Calcutta,  India 

1844 

1873 

5    Willis  Nazery 

1808 

Isle  of  Wight  Co.,  Va. 

1852 

New  York  City 

1875 

6    D.  Alexander  Payne 

1811 

Charleston,  S.  C. 

1852 

New  York  City 

7    Alexander  W.  Wayman 

1821 

Caroline  Co.,  Md. 

1864 

Philadelphia,  Pa. 

8    Jabez  Pitt  Campbell 
9    James  A.  Shorter 

1815 
1817 

State  o  Delaware 
Washington,  D.  C. 

1864 
1868 

Philadelphia,  Pa. 
Washington,  D.  C. 

10    Thomas  M.  D.  Ward 

1823 

Hanover,  Pa. 

1868 

Washington,  D.  C. 

11    John  M.  Brown 

1817 

Odessa,  Del. 

1868 

Washington,  D.  C. 

12    Henry  M.  Turner 

1833 

Newberry,  S.  C. 

1880 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

13    William  F.  Dickerson 

1845 

Woodbury,  N.  J. 

1880 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

1884 

14    Richard  H.  Cain 

1825 

Greenbrier  Co.,  W.  Va. 

1880 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

15    Richard  R.  Disney 

1833 

North  East,  Md. 

Chatham,  Ont. 

Ifa    Wesley  J.  Games 

1840 

Wilkes  Co.,  Ga. 

1888 

Indianapolis,  Ind. 

17    B.  W.  Arnett 

1838 

Brownsville,  Pa. 

1888 

Indianapolis,  Ind. 

18    B.  T.  Tanner 

1835 

Pittsburgh,  Pa. 

1888 

Indianapolis,  Ind. 

19    Abraham  Grant 

1848 

Lake  City,  Fla. 

1888 

Indianapolis,  Ind. 

Episcopal  Church,  consented  to  ordain  one  of  their  number 
as  pastor.  The  holding  of  the  church  property  led  to  con- 
siderable legal  difficulties;  and  many  meanwhile  became 
Episcopalians.  Four  years  later  Richard  Allen,  who  had 
been  a  Southern  slave,  and  later  became  a  bishop,  converted 
a  blacksmith-shop  in  his  yard  into  a  meeting-house,  and 
this  was  dedicated  in  June,  1794,  by  Bishop  Asbury.  The 
church  was  named  Bethel,  and  was  placed  under  the  control 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  but  not  according  to  the 
prescribed  form.  Richard  Allen,  when  he  received  ordina- 
tion as  pastor  in  1799,  was  the  first  colored  preacher  in  the 
United  States.  Sixteen  years  later  difficulties  arose  with 
those  in  control  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  in  Phila- 
delphia. A  contribution  of  $600  to  the  central  fund  was  de- 
manded in  return  for  a  regular  preaching  supply;  but  the  price 
was  deemed  too  dear,  considering  the  quality  of  the  preach- 
ing, and  finally  the  Bethel  people  refused  to  contribute  more 
than  $100.  This  sum  was  declined,  as  inadequate,  and  the 
people  were  declared  contumacious.  The  resident  elder, 
Robert  R.  Roberts,  afterward  bishop,  entering  the  church  on 

an  ensuing  Sabbath,  to  take  possession  of  the  pulpit,  was  not 
7 


!04  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

allowed  to  proceed  more  than  half  way,  and  had  to  retire. 
A  law-suit  which  grew  out  of  the  dispute  ended  in  favor  of 
the  Bethel  people. 

In  April,  1816,  a  convention,  invitations  to  attend  which 
had  been  sent  to  colored  people  in  various  districts  through- 
out the  Republic,  met  in  Philadelphia.  There  were  seventeen 
delegates — five  from  Philadelphia,  seven  from  Baltimore, 
three  from  Attleborough,  Massachusetts;  one  from  Salem, 
New  Jersey;  and  one  from  Wilmington,  Delaware.  Daniel 
Coker,  having  been  elected  bishop,  resigned  in  favor  of 
Richard  Allen,  who  was  consecrated  bishop  by  the  Rev.  Ab- 
salom Jones,  a  priest  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church. 
The  name  chosen  for  the  organization  was  the  African  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church,  and  it  adopted  the  Book  of  Dis- 
cipline of  the  Methodist  Church,  with  its  Articles  of  Religion 
and  its  General  Rules,  as  drafted  by  the  two  Wesley s,  entire 
and  complete  with  the  sole  omission  of  the  presiding  elder. 
Probably  3,000  persons  joined  the  organization  at  its  inception; 
and  ten  years  later  the  membership  had  more  than  doubled. 
Bishop  Allen  served  as  bishop  for  fifteen  years,  dying  in 
1831.  A  man  of  but  little  education,  he  yet  possessed  re- 
markable judgment  and  energy  and  won  general  respect.  A 
monument  to  his  memory  stands  in  Philadelphia  Park. 

BISHOP    BENJAMIN  T.  TANNER.. 

Benj.  Tucker  Tanner  was  born  in  Pittsburgh,  Pennsyl- 
vania, December  25,  1835.  He  was  educated  in  the  schools 
of  Pittsburgh,  in  A  very  College,  Allegheny,  and  in  the  West- 
ern Theological  Seminary.  Avery  conferred  on  him  in  1870 
the  degree  of  A.  M.,  and  Wilberforce  subsequently  those  of 
D.  D.  and  LL.D.  He  was  married  August  19,  1858,  to 
Sarah  E.  Miller. 

He  was  for  sixteen  years  editor  of  the  Christian  Recorder, 
the  organ  of  the  A.  M.  E.  Church;  was  the  founder  and  for 
four  years  the  editor  of  the  A.  M.  E.  Church  Review.  He 
was  elected  bishop  in  1888.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Negro- 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP. 


105 


American  Academy,  and  is  the  author  of  a  number  of  books, 
of  which  we  may  name,  "Is  the  Negro  Accursed? ' '  "  Apology 
for  African  Methodism;"  "Outlines  of  A.  M.  H.  Church 
History;"  "The  Dispensations  in  the  History  of  the 
Church;"  "The  Negro  in  Holy  Writ;"  "A  Hint  to  Minis- 
ters, Especially  of  the  A.  M.  E.  Church;"  and  "The  Color 
of  Solomon— What?" 


JOSEPH    E.    JONES,    D.  D. 

Doctor  Jones  was  born  of  slave  parents  at  Lynchburg,  Vir- 
ginia, October,  1852.  At  six  years  of  age  he  began  work  in 
a  tobacco  factory.  By  the 
indefatigable  efforts  of  his 
mother  he  had  educational 
advantages  while  the  war 
was  in  progress,  and  at  its 
close  was  put  into  school, 
where  he  remained  three 
years.  After  spending 
three  years  in  the  Rich- 
mond Theological  Insti- 
tute, he  entered  the  pre- 
paratory department  of  Col- 
gate University,  1871,  and 
graduated  in  1876.  After 
graduation  he  was  ap- 
pointed instructor  in  the 
Richmond  Theological 
Seminary,  and  for  twenty- 
five  years  has  discharged 
his  duties  with  marked  fidelity.  He  served  as  corresponding 
secretary  of  the  Baptist  Foreign  Mission  Convention  for 
twelve  years;  president  of  the  State  Sunday-school  Conven- 
tion for  six  years;  and  has  been  a  member  of  the  Educa- 
tional Board  for  about  eighteen  years.  He  is  editor  of  the 
Virginia  Baptist. 


JOSEPH  E.  JONES,  D.  D. 


106 


THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 


MISS    EMMA    B.    DELANEY. 

Miss  Emma  B.  Delaney,  missionary  to  Africa,  was  born 
January  18,   1871,  at    Fernandina,    Florida.     Her  father, 

Daniel  S.  Delaney,  was 
for  thirty  years  in  gov- 
ernment service  as  pilot 
on  the  revenue  cutter, 
"Boutwell"  being  the 
only  colored  pilot  in  the 
service.  Her  mother, 
Annie  L.  Delaney,  is  an 
influential  Christian. 
When  eight  years  old 
Emma  was  sent  to  the 
Convent  School  of  Fer- 
nandina. Having  fin- 
ished the  course  there, 
she  entered  Spelrnan 
Seminary  in  1889.  In 
1892  she  was  graduated 
from  the  Nurse  Train- 
ing Department,  receiving  a  gold  medal  for  proficiency.  In 
1894  she  finished  the  academic  course,  and  in  1896  the  mis- 
sionary training  course.  During  the  summer  months,  while 
pursuing  the  missionary  course,  she  labored  successfully  in 
Gainesville,  Macon  and  Athens,  Georgia.  For  two  terms 
she  was  matron  at  Florida  Institute,  Live  Oak.  Wherever 
she  has  been  she  has  done  faithful,  efficient  mission  work. 
For  years  she  felt  herself  called  to  the  foreign  field,  and  has 
anxiously  awaited  the  word  to  go  forward. 

BISHOP    W.    J.    GAINES. 

Wesley  J.  Gaines,  sixteenth  bishop  of  the  A.  M.  E. 
Church,  was  born  a  slave,  in  Wilkes  county,  Georgia,  Oc- 
tober 4,  1840.  He  received  theological  instruction  from  a 
Protestant  Episcopal  clergyman  at  Athens,  Georgia;  became 


MISS  EMMA  B. 


7.V    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  107 

a  minister  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  in 
1860;  was  married  to  Miss  Julia  A.  Camper,  August  20, 
1863;  united  with  the  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
in  1865;  was  consecutively  pastor,  presiding  elder,  mission 
secretary  and  bishop. 

Through  his  exertions  and  influence  Bethel  Church,  in 
Atlanta,  the  largest  colored  church  in  the  South,  was  built; 
he  founded  Morris  Brown  College,  in  Atlanta;  is  a  trustee 
of  Wilberforce  University,  in  Ohio;  is  vice-president  of 
Payne  Theological  Seminary;  is  president  of  the  Board  of 
Trustees  of  Waters  College,  Jacksonville,  Florida;  president 
of  the  Financial  Board  of  the  African  Methodist  Church; 
author  of  " African  Methodism  in  the  South,"  and  of  "The 
Negro  and  the  White  Man."  He  has  strenuously  opposed- 
all  schemes  for  the  removal  of  the  Negro  from  the  United 
States. 

BISHOP    ABRAHAM   GRANT. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  a  slave  in  Lake  City, 
Florida,  August  25,  1848.  During  the  Civil  War  he  was 
sold  at  Columbus,  Georgia,  for  $6,000  in  Confederate  money. 
After  the  close  of  the  war  he  returned  to  Florida  and  clerked 
in  a  grocery  store  for  his  former  owner — taking  lessons 
meanwhile  for  a  short  time  daily  in  a  missionary  school .  Sub- 
sequently he  was  steward  in  hotels  at  Lake  City  and  Jack- 
sonville, Florida,  and  for  a  short  time  attended  night  school 
at  Cookman  Institute.  In  October,  1868,  he  was  converted 
at  a  camp-meeting  and  joined  the  A.  M.  E.  Church  in 
Jacksonville,  Florida;  served  as  class-leader  and  steward  till 
April  7,  1873,  when  he  was  licensed  to  preach;  was  ordained 
deacon  in  December,  1873;  elder,  March  4,  1876.  While  in 
Jacksonville  he  was  inspector  of  customs,  and  was  also  ap- 
pointed county  commissioner  of  Duvall  county.  In  1878 
he  was  transferred  to  Texas;  was  pastor  at  San  Antonio  and 
Austin;  became  presiding  elder  and  vice-president  of  Paul 
Quinn  College,  at  Waco;  was  elected  bishop  May  24,  1888; 
was  bishop  of  the  Ninth  district,  subsequently  of  the  Sixth 


THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

district,  then  of  Florida,  Georgia  and  Alabama;  afterward 
in  charge  of  Fourth  Episcopal  District,  and  president  of  the 
Board  of  Trustees  of  Wilberforce  University.  Was  for 
four  years  president  of  Board  of  Publication  of  the  A.  M.  E. 
Church,  at  Philadelphia;  and  for  eight  years  president  of  the 
Church  Extension  Board,  A.  M.  E.  Church.  Was  member 
of  the  Ecumenical  Methodist  Conference  at  Washington, 
D.  C.,  1891;  has  traveled  in  Europe;  presided  over  confer- 
ences in  Liberia;  and  was  a  member  of  the  Ecumenical 
Missionary  Conference  at  New  York,  April,  1900;  and  of  the 
Ecumenical  Methodist  Conference  in  London,  England,  Sep- 
tember, 1900. 

THE    COLORED    METHODIST    EPISCOPAL    CHURCH. 

Between  the  years  1866  and  1870  the  bishops  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church,  South,  formed  several  Annual  Con- 
ferences composed  of  colored  ministers.  The  preachers  of 
these  colored  conferences  requested  the  General  Conference 
of  1870  to  appoint  a  commission  of  five  to  consider,  in  con- 
nection with  delegates  of  their  own ,  the  propriety  of  organiz- 
ing the  colored  members  into  a  distinct  ecclesiastical  body. 
The  General  Conference  of  1866  had  directed  the  bishops  to 
organize  the  colored  members  into  an  independent  body  if 
the  time  should  come  "when,  in  their  godly  judgment,  it 
would  be  better  for  them."  So  in  December,  1870,  a  conven- 
tional General  Conference,  composed  of  representatives  of 
eight  Annual  Conferences  of-  colored  preachers,  was  held  in 
Jackson,  Tennessee.  Bishops  Payne  and  McTyeire  pre- 
sided, and  the  colored  conferences  were  organized  into  a  sep- 
arate ecclesiastical  body.  Two  colored  ministers  were  or- 
dained bishops — the  Rev.  W.  H.  Miles  and  the  Rev.  R.  H. 
Vanderhorst.  The  name  chosen  for  the  church  was  "The 
Colored  Methodist  Episcopal  Church."  All  property  held 
by  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  for  the  use  of 
their  colored  members,  was  turned  over  to  the  new  church. 
The  value  of  this  property  was  estimated  at  between  a  mill- 


IN    HISTORY      AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP. 


109 


ion  and  a  million  and  a  half  of  dollars.  Two  schools  were 
established  by  the  southern  church  for  the  education  of 
teachers  and  preachers  of  the  colored  church.  One,  known 
as  Paine  Institute,  named  in  honor  of  Moses  U.  Paine,  who 
gave  to  the  endowment  $25,000,  is  located  at  Augusta, 


BISHOPS  OF  THE  COLORED  METHODIST  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH. 

Georgia.  The  other,  known  by  the  name  of  the  Normal  and 
Theological  Institute  of  the  Colored  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  is  located  at  Jackson,  Tennessee.  An  assessment  is 
every  year  placed  upon  each  of  the  Annual  Conferences  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  for  the  support  of 
these  schools. 


110  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

J.    H.    HOKE,    D.    D. 

J.  H.  Hoke,  D.  D>,  was  born  of  slave  parents  in  the  State 
of  Alabama.  His  mistress  taught  him  to  read  and  write,  and 
predicted  that  he  would  become  an  Episcopalian  preacher. 
In  1867  he  united  with  the  Baptist  Church  in  Jacksonville, 
Alabama.  After  spending  three  years  as  a  student  in  Talla- 
dega  College,  Alabama,  he  taught  in  the  public  schools  of 
the  State  for  ten  years.  In  1875  he  moved  to  Arkansas, 
serving  as  pastor  in  Augusta,  Searcy  and  Hot  Springs, 
meanwhile  teaching  in  the  public  schools.  In  1888  he  was 
chosen  general  missionary  for'  the  State  of  Arkansas,  and 
has  filled  that  position  to  .the  present  time.  He  has 
been  president  of  the  State  Convention  two  years  and  secre- 
tary five  years;  also  president  of  the  State  Educational  Asso- 
ciation. He  was  one  of  the  founders,  and  has  always  been  an 
ardent  supporter  of  the  Arkansas  Baptist  College  at  Little 
Rock.  Few  men  have  wielded  a  larger  influence  or  have 
done  a  more  desirable  work  than  Doctor  Hoke. 

R.EV.    GARNETT     RUSSELL    WALLER. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  at  Eastville,  North- 
ampton county,  Virginia,  in  1858 — the  second  of  seven  sons 
of  Ellen  and  John  Waller.  The  latter  died,  leaving  the 
mother  the  burden  of  eight  small  children.  In  1872  she 
moved  to  Baltimore,  Maryland,  where  each  boy  was  given  a 
common  school  training,  and  a  trade;  after  which  she  en- 
couraged them  to  follow  the  bent  of  their  minds  as  to  their 
life's  work.  One  took  up  the  law,  three  followed  their 
trades,  one  took  up  medicine,  and  Garnett  R.  Waller  was 
one  of  the  two  who  felt  called  to  the  gospel  ministry. 

After  spending  three  years  in  successful  business,  as  a 
first-class  shoe-maker,  he  entered  the  Lincoln  University, 
Pennsylvania,  and  graduated  in  1884.  He  graduated  from  the 
Newton  (Massachusetts)  Theological  Institution  with  high 
honors  in  Hebrew  and  cognate  studies,  in  1887.  During  his 
course  at  Newton,  Mr.  Waller  engaged  extensively  in  evan- 


REV.  GARNETT  RUSSELL  WALLER. 


U2  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

gelistic  work  in  Boston,  New  Bedford,  and  Syracuse,  New 
York,  founding  in  the  last  named  city  the  First  Baptist 
Church,  which  has  had  a  prosperous  history. 

After  graduation  he  accepted  a  call  to  the  State  of  Mary- 
land as  general  evangelist  of  the  Southern  Baptist  Conven- 
tion. 

His  work  was  a  marked  success  from  the  beginning.  His 
present  charge  is  one  of  the  many  churches,  Sunday-schools, 
and  missions  organized  by  him  during  his  evangelistic  la- 
bors in  the  State,  over  twelve  years  ago,  in  a  small  building 
on  Aisquith  street,  with  eleven  members.  In  1892  the 
property  on  Aisquith  street  was  sold,  and  the  congregation 
erected  an  edifice  on  Oak  street,  in  a  more  advantageous 
section.  Owing,  however,  to  an  ever-increasing  member- 
ship, it  was  soon  deemed  necessary  to  purchase  the  present 
dignified  and  commodious  structure,  known  as  the  Trinity 
Baptist  Temple,  seating  seven  hundred  in  the  main  audito- 
rium, with  sixteen  other  apartments  for  institutional  work, 
such  as  a  fitting  school  for  young  men  in  preparation  for  col- 
lege and  professional  work.  One  hundred  and  twenty-five 
have  received  instruction  in  this  department,  the  majority  of 
whom  are  now  successful  in  their  respective  callings.  The 
church  maintains  three  mission  stations,  all  doing  good 
work.  Mothers'  meetings  and  sewing  schools,  training 
school  for  kindergarten  teachers,  music  and  missionary  train- 
ing schools,  social  science  association,  composed  of  leading 
rare  thinkers — these  are  some  of  the  agencies  for  good  em- 
ployed by  this  progressive  church. 

Mr.  Waller  is  an  instructive  and  forceful  preacher,  an  in- 
defatigable worker,  and  an  uncompromising  advocate  of 
temperance.  He  is  a  man  of  almost  ascetic  habits,  having 
never  used  tobacco  in  any  form. 

As  president  of  the  Maryland  Baptist  Orphanage,  president 
of  the  North  Baltimore  Stock  and  Loan  Association  for  four 
years,  secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  Ministers'  Conference 
(composed  of  thirty  white  and  ten  colored  ministers),  and 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP. 


113 


corresponding  secretary  of  General  State  Association,  Mr. 
Waller  has  wielded  an  influence  and  power  for  good  in  his 
State  that  will  prove  a  lasting  benefit  to  his  race. 

He  has  high  ideals  as  to  church  work,  and  so  persistent 
has  he  been  to  develop  them,  that  he  has  uniformly  refused 
any  inducement  to  leave  his  present  charge. 

His  paper  before  the  Hampton  Negro  Conference,  on  the 
"Relation  of  the  Pastor  to  the  Community,"  received  the 
highest  praise. 

A.    R.    GRIGGS,    D.    D. 

Allan  Ralph  Griggs  was  born  of  slave  parents  in  Han- 
cock county,  Georgia,  about  1850.  His  father's  name  was 
Sutton;  his  mother,  Brazilia, 
belonged  to  a  family  by  the 
name  of  Griggs.  He  remem- 
bers seeing  his  mother  but 
twice,  the  last  time  after  he 
had  been  sold  at  auction.  He 
was  taken  to  Grimes  county, 
Texas,  where  he  labored  on  a 
farm  till  1867.  He  was  con- 
verted in  1869,  licensed  and 
ordained  in  1874.  In  1875  he 
became  pastor  of  the  Baptist 
church  in  Dallas;  while  here 
he  attended  Ministers'  Insti- 
tutes, under  the  auspices  of  the 
Home  Mission  Society.  In 
1881  he  aided  in  the  founding 
of  Bishop  College,  and  became  one  of  its  trustees.  In  1886 
he  entered  Richmond  Theological  Seminary,  where  he  re- 
mained two  sessions.  He  has  been  president  of  the  National 
Baptist  Convention,  and  is  now  superintendent  of  missions 
and  educational  agent  in  Texas.  He  is  editor  and  publisher 
of  the  National  Baptist  Bulletin. 


A.  R.  GRIGGS,  D.  D. 


114 


THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 


REV.    H.    N.    BOUEY. 

Rev.  H.  N.  Bouey  was  born  of  slave  parents,  August  4, 
1849,  near  Augusta,  Columbia  county,  Georgia.  At  twenty  - 
•one  he  entered  the  Home  Mission  School  at  Augusta, 
where  he  remained  two  years.  In  1875  and  1876  he  served 
as  probate  judge  in  Hdgefield  county,  South  Carolina. 
Having  labored  as  a  missionary  in  South  Carolina  for  one 
year,  he  went  as  a  missionary  to  Liberia,  Africa.  In  1882-6 
he  served  as  Sunday  School  missionary  in  Alabama.  In 


REV.  H.  N.  BOUEY. 


1887-8  was  pastor  in  Columbia,  South  Carolina;  in  1889  he 
became  general  missionary  for  Missouri,  a  position  which  he 
has  recently  resigned  to  return  as  a  missionary  to  Liberia. 
During  the  twelve  years  that  he  has  been  general  mission- 
ary in  Missouri,  the  Baptist  cause  among  the  Negroes  has 
been  unified  and  strengthened,  the  college  has  been  founded, 
andthejmost  harmonious  relationship  has  been  established 
and  maintained  between  the  white  and  Negro  Baptists. 


CHAPTER  V. 
THE  NEGRO  IN  LITERATURE  AND  THE  FINE  ARTS. 

UNDER  the  heads  of  uThe  College-Bred  Negro,"  "Law, 
Medicine  and  Divinity,"  and  "Politics,  Journalism 
and  the  Lecture  Field,"  may  be  found  the  names  of  some 
who  are  well-known  as  authors;  but  we  include  in  this 
chapter  a  few  prominent  names  of  those  only  whose  chief 
distinction  is  that  of  art  or  authorship. 

In  the  world  of  art,  in  this  and  other  countries,  the  colored 
race  has  furnished  eminent  names,  among  whom  we  may 
mention  Guillaume  Guillon  Lethierre,  a  famous  French 
artist  of  the  classical  school,  who  was  once  president  of  the 
School  of  Fine  Arts  at  Rome,  and  some  of  whose  paintings 
now  adorn  the  walls  of  the  Louvre  Museum  in  Paris. 

Edmonia  Lewis  began  her  career  as  a  sculptress  before  the 
war,  and  persevered  under  the  discouragements  of  poverty 
and  the  lack  of  liberal  education,  until  she  became  famous. 
She  finally  had  a  studio  in  Rome,  and  while  there,  and  before 
taking  up  her  residence  there,  she  produced  a  number  of 
admirable  works. 

Henry  Ossawa  Tanner,  though  a  comparatively  young 
man,  has  taken  high  rank  as  an  artist.  He  is  a  son  of  Bishop 
B.  T.  Tanner,  noticed  elsewhere,  and  was  born  in  Pitts- 
burgh, Pennsylvania,  June  21, 1859.  Having  taken  his  ordi- 
nary school  course,  he  studied  in  the  Pennsylvania  Academy 
of  Fine  Arts  under  Thomas  Eakins,  and  was  afterward  a 
pupil  of  Jean  Paul  Laurens  and  Benjamin  Constant,  in  Paris, 
France.  Had  honorable  mention  in  1896;  took  third-class 
medal  in  1897;  was  awarded  the  Walter  Lippincott  prize  in 
Philadelphia,  in  1900;  took  second  medal  at  the  Paris  Exposi- 
tion in  1900;  and  is  represented  in  the  Luxemburg,  the  Wil- 
stach  Collection,  Carnegie  Institute,  and  in  the  Pennsylva- 

115 


116  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

nia  Academy  of  Fine  Arts.  He  was  married  in  London 
December  14,  1899,  to  Jessie  Macaulay  Olsson. 

Samuel  Coleridge  Taylor,  an  English  mulatto  married  to 
an  American  woman  of  color,  has  become  famous  as  a  com- 
poser of  classical  music — his  compositions  being  exceedingly 
popular  in  England  as  well  as  in  the  United  States. 

Blind  Tom,  a  Negro  and  the  slave  of  General  Bethune,  of 
Columbus,  Georgia,  gathering  his  first  inspiration  from  listen- 
ing to  his  young  mistress  play  the  piano,  was  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  musical  prodigies  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

Of  authors  whom,  for  lack  of  material,  we  have  not  been 
able  to  notice  at  greater  length,  we  may  mention: 

John  Stephen  Durham,  of  Philadelphia,  a  former  United 
States  minister  to  Santo  Domingo,  is  an  author  of  note,  as 
well  as  a  politician,  and  has  published  in  Lippincot?  s  Mag- 
azine a  novel  dealing  with  life  in  Hayti. 

Mrs.  Fannie  Barrier  Williams,  a  prominent  member  of  the 
Chicago  Woman's  Club,  is  distinguished  as  an  authoress  and 
a  newspaper  correspondent. 

Alexander  Poushkin,  who  belonged  to  an  ancient  family 
of  Coyars,  was  the  most  celebrated  Russian  poet  produced  in 
the  nineteenth  century.  He  was  of  the  Negro  race,  having 
the  curly  hair  of  that  people  and  a  darker  complexion  than 
ordinary  Russians.  He  has  been  called  "the  Russian  By- 
ron." A  strange  ancestor,  his  maternal  great-grandfather, 
was  so  great  a  favorite  with  Peter  the  Great  that  he  conferred 
upon  him  a  title  of  nobility.  Poushkin  was  a  man  of  varied 
talents,  being  a  writer  of  prose  fiction  and  history  as  well  as 
of  poetry,  and  having  an  ambition  to  figure  in  public  affairs. 
He  was  exiled  for  some  years,  1820-1824,  for  revolutionary 
sentiments;  but  in  1829  he  was  in  the  administrative  service 
of  the  government  in  the  Caucasus.  He  died  in  his  thirty- 
eighth  year  from  a  wound  received  in  a  duel. 

Jose  Maria  Heredia,  regarded  by  some  as  the  greatest  of 
Spanish- American  poets,  is  said  to  have  been  a  mulatto;  and 
the  poet  Placidio  was  a  quadroon. 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  117 

Paul  Granier  de  Cassagnac,  of  France,  editor,  author, 
Bonapartist  in  French  politics,  is  of  mixed  blood — is,  in  the 
language  of  one,  "quite  palpably  colored. " 

Alexandre  Davy  de  la  Pailleterie  Dumas,  known  as  Dumas 
pere,  son  of  the  famous  French  General  Dumas,  noticed  else- 
where, was,  of  course,  the  grandson  of  the  St.  Domingo  Negro 
woman  spoken  of  in  connection  with  General  Dumas.  He 
was  a  noted  dramatic  author  and  novelist.  He  was  for 
awhile  in  the  government  service  at  Paris  (1823  and  sub- 
sequently), and  took  an  active  part  in  the  revolution  of  1830. 
He  was  a  voluminous  writer,  of  somewhat  varied  powers,  his 
plays,  novels  and  historical  studies  numbering  many  vol- 
umes, his  literary  labors  extending  over  forty-three  years. 
Alexandre  Dumas,  known  as  Dumas  fils,  son  of  the  preced- 
ing, was  also  a  most  prolific  and  popular  author,  his  writings 
embracing  poems,  plays,  novels  and  essays.  He  began  the 
publication  of  his  productions  when  he  was  but  eighteen  years 
old.  He  was  elected  a  member  of  the  French  Academy, 
January  30,  1874. 

Notable  among  the  writers  who  have  shown  the  power  of 
the  men  and  women  of  the  race  to  "wreak  themselves  upon 
expression,"  is  George  W.  Williams,  of  New  York,  the 
author  of  a  "History  of  the  Negro  Race  in  America  from 
1619  to  1880" — an  exhaustive  work  (in  two  volumes  of 
about  eleven  hundred  pages).  It  is  ably  written,  and  gives 
evidence  of  not  only  a  capable  mind,  but  of  conscientious 
and  painstaking  investigation  and  a  will  not  to  yield  to  dis- 
couragements and  be  thwarted  from  a  worthy  purpose  by  the 
obstacles  that  present  themselves  to  the  inquirer  in  a  new 
historic  field.  He  was  the  first  colored  man  ever  elected  to 
the  Ohio  Legislature,  and  was  at  one  time  judge  advocate  of 
the  G.  A.  R.  of  Ohio. 

In  the  report  of  the  Fifth  Annual  Conference  in  Atlanta, 
much  of  which  is  printed  in  another  part  of  this  work,  will  be 
found  a  list  of  more  than  thirty  authors  not  mentioned  above, 


118  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

besides  an  astonishing  number  of  college-bred  Negroes  who 
have  entered  other  fields  of  intellectual  activity. 

PHILLIS     WHEATLEY. 

In  1761  a  Negro  girl  was  brought  on  a  slave  ship  to  Boston, 
and  sold  to  Mrs.  John  Wheatley.  Her  mistress  gave  her 
the  name  Phillis,  and  she  was  afterward  known  as  Phillis 
Wheatley.  She  was  eight  years  old  at  the  time  she  was  sold 
into  slavery,  but  her  appearance,  after  being  properly  dressed 
and  set  to  household  work,  and  her  evident  sprightliness,  so 
impressed  her  mistress  that  she  concluded  to  teach  her  to 
read.  This  once  begun  eventuated  in  her  becoming  a  good 
Bnglish  scholar  and  so  proficient  in  Latin  that  she  translated 
Ovid's  "Metamorphoses" — doing  it  so  well  that  after  it  was 
published  in  Boston,  it  was  republished  in  Bngland  and 
favorably  received  by  the  literary  critics  of  that  day. 

At  the  age  of  sixteen  she  embraced  the  Christian  religion 
and  took  membership  at  the  ( '  Old  South  Meeting  House . "  At 
the  age  of  twenty  she  was  set  free.  Her  health  now  began 
to  fail,  and  her  former  mistress  sent  her  on  a  voyage  to  Bng- 
land. She  had  already  published  a  small  volume  of  poems, 
and  the  fame  of  the  "African  poetess"  had  preceded  her  to 
Bngland.  These  poems,  with  probably  some  additions,  were 
republished  in  London,  1773.  Her  talents,  her  modest  de- 
meanor, and  conversational  powers  that  were  held  to  be  ex- 
ceptional, made  her  a  favorite  with  people  of  rank  as  well  as 
with  those  of  letters. 

Mrs.  Wheatley,  her  former  mistress,  was  so  attached  to 
her  that  she  shortened  her  stay  in  London  by  an  earnest  re- 
quest that  she  return  home,  which  she  did  only  to  find  the 
affectionate  lady  ill  unto  death.  Not  long  after  the  death  of 
Mrs.  Wheatley  her  husband  and  daughter  died,  leaving  of 
the  family  one  son,  who  went  to  live  in  Bngland,  and  Phillis, 
left  alone,  shortly  afterward  married  a  colored  man  named 
John  Peters.  The  husband  proved  to  be  utterly  incapa- 
ble of  appreciating  so  fine  a  nature,  and  her  married  life  was 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  H9 

unhappy.    She  died  in  1784,  before  she  was  thirty-one  years 
old. 

Brought,  an  almost  naked  savage  child,  from  the  wilds  of 
Africa,  a  slave  for  about  twelve  years,  meanwhile  becoming 
a  scholar  and  a  poetess  of  distinction,  as  a  freed  woman  the 
associate  of  people  of  culture  and  refinement  in  Boston  and 
London, — her  case  is  a  remarkable  one.  It  is  rare,  cer- 
tainly; but  it  ought  to  serve  as  an  incentive  to  the  young 
men  and  women  of  the  race  to  improve  their  talents,  refine 
their  manners,  live  uprightly  and  achieve  the  very  best  of 
which  they  are  capable. 

PAUL       LAURENCE     D  UNBAR. 

Paul  Laurence  Dunbar,  poet,  novelist  and  newspaper 
writer,  was  born  in  Dayton,  Ohio,  June  27,  1872,  son  of 
Joshua  and  Matilda  (Burton)  Dunbar.  His  father  had  been 
a  slave  in  Kentucky,  but  fled  to  Canada  by  underground 
railroad  before  the  war.  After  the  war  ended  he  came  back 
and  made  his  home  in  Ohio. 

Paul  was  educated  in  the  common  and  high  schools  of  his 
town.  After  graduating  from  the  high  school  be  began  busi- 
ness to  support  his  mother,  then  widowed.  At  this  early 
age  he  contributed  to  newspapers,  and  was  encouraged  by 
Doctor  Tobey,  of  Toledo,  to  continue  his  literary  efforts. 
He  wrote,  for  some  time,  for  eastern  magazines  before  the 
editors  knew  him  to  be  a  Negro. 

In  1893  (at  twenty-one  years  of  age)  he  published  his  first 
book,  "Oak  and  Ivy."  His  second  one,  "Majors  and 
Minors,"  was  reviewed  by  William  Dean  Howells  in  so 
kindly  and  discriminating  a  manner  as  to  attract  to  the  young 
author  greatly  increased  attention.  Howells  pronounced 
Dunbar  "the  first  black  man  to  feel  the  life  of  the  Negro 
aesthetically  and  express  it  lyrically." 

In  1896  two  volumes  were  republished  as  one,  entitled 
"Lyrics  of  Lowly  Life."  This  was  followed  by  "Folks  from 
Dixie"  (1898);  "Lyrics  of  the  Hearthstone"  appeared  in 

8 


120 


THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 


1899,  as  did  also  "Poems  of  Cabin  and  Field."  "The  Un- 
called," a  story  which  first  appeared  in  Lippincotfs  Maga- 
zine, has  been  described  as  "strong  in  motive  and  delineation, 
a  story  of  the  soul's  struggle  against  environment — the  story 
of  a  waif  forced  into  the  ministerial  life  by  an  adopted  mother. 
The  intensity  is  relieved  by  many  humorous  episodes  and  not 
a  little  quaint  philosophy. ' '  One  reviewer  says :  ' ' The  evolu- 
tion of  the  heroin  'Uncalled'  is  a  strong  character  study,  and 


PAUI,  J.AURENCF,  DUNBAR. 

the  action  of  the  minor  characters  and  the  construction  of  the 
story  generally,  prove  that  Duiibar  is  master  of  the  difficult 
art  of  writing  a  long  novel  of  sustained  interest.  He  demon- 
strates three,  things:  first,  the  Negro's  gift  of  telling  a  story, 
illustrated  in  the  humorous  and  dialect  pieces;  second,  the 
Negro's  serious  revelation  of  his  passion  of  love;  and  third, 
of  far  greater  importance  just  now,  the  Negro's  sense  of  verbal 
melody.  Of  the  last,  the  entire  collection  of  his  poems  is  a 
triumphant  and  well-nigh  unerring  demonstration." 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP. 


121 


JAMES    D.    CORROTHEKS. 

This  man,  who  has  for  some  years  been  known  as  a  poet 
and  prose  writer,  has  recently  achieved  unusual  distinction 
by  the  publication  of  "The  Black  Cat  Club,"  a  collection  of 
humorous  stories  and  folk-lore.  Of  this  work  the  Literary 
Digest  says:  "The  date  of  publication  of  'The  Black  Cat 
Club'  should  be  commemorated  by  cultivated  people  of  color 
as  a  second  'Emancipation  Day.' 

"Small  and  unpretentious  as  the  book  is,  it  marks  the 
beginning  of  the  independence  of  the  literature  pertaining 
to  the  American  Negro.  The  humor  of  the  black  race  has, 
in  particular,  been  too  much  under  the  domination  of  white 
men.  The  early  'Jim  Crow'  idea  of  Negro  fun  held  sway 
for  many  years  in  this  country,  and  is 
still  supreme  in  England.  And  the  later 
'Uncle  Remus'  conception,  while  it 
takes  a  true  and  somewhat  typical  speci- 
men for  subject,  nevertheless  views  him 
through  an  atmosphere  of  kindly,  yet 
obscuring,  sentimentality.  In  short,  it 
is  unconsciously  patronizing. 

"Even  writers  with  colored  blood  in 
their  veins  have  had  the  white  man's 
view  imposed  upon  them.  The  Negro 
is  by  nature  imitative.  JAMES  D-  CORROTHI*s. 

...  "  The  Negro  does  not  plot.  His  humor  is  'touch- 
and-go.'  His  stories  are  pointless  in  form,  though  so  in- 
sinuating in  quality  that  they  can  never  after  be  crowded  out 
of  the  mind.  Certain  phrases,  such  as  'Ole  Massa's  Gone  to 
Phillimoyo'k'  (the  title  of  a  folk-tale  in  the  present  book), 
are  overflowing  with  such  natural,  spontaneous  humor  that 
any  number  of  varying  stories  could  be  built  around  each. 
In  fact,  'protean'  is  the  adjective  that  exactly  applies  to 
Negro  folk-lore — so  elusive  is  the  secret  of  its  informing 
principle. 

"There   is  no  logic,  and  only  the  semblance   of  literary 


122  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

'form,'  about  Mr.  Corrothers's  book.  The  club,  whose 
proceedings  it  records,  is  an  organization  with  an  utterly 
fantastic  purpose,  the  worship  of  The  Black  Cat.  The  place 
selected  is  Chicago,  where  every  type  of  Negro  and  Negro 
dialect  is  to  be  found.  These  types  are  presented  as  they  are, 
without  exaggeration  or  extenuation.  As  the  author  says, 
'a  window  is  let  into  Negro  life  so  that  the  reader  may  see 
for  himself.'  Negro  expressions,  sayings  and  peculiar  by- 
words are,  to  continue  quotation  from  the  author,  'set  down 
at  just  such  times  and  places  as  a  Negro  would  naturally 
make  use  of  them.' 

"The  original  verse  of  the  book  is  of  all  sorts,  simple 
doggerel  and  pure  lyric,  yet  equally  filled  with  Negro  humor 
and  sentiment.  *  'Way  in  de  Woods,  an'  Nobody  Dah,'  is 
a  gem  of  flawless  verse,  with  a  depth  of  awe  and  mystery 
that  is  more  than  primitive;  it  is  elemental.  In  one  instance 
Mr.  Corrothers  has  taken  a  genial  revenge  on  behalf  of  his 
race.  Negroes  have  borne  the  jokes  as  well  as  the  burdens 
of  the  white  men  from  the  days  of  Homer.  It  is  now  the 
turn  of  the  'blameless  Ethiopian.'  The  Rev.  Dark  Loud- 
mouth recounts  to  the  Black  Cat  Club  the  way  in  which 
James  Whitcomb  Riley  really  received  the  bump  on  the  head 
which  the  papers  reported  was  the  result  of  an  attempted 
robbery.  There  is  an  air  of  realism  about  the  narrative  of 
this  watermelon  raid  which  would  convince  Mr.  Riley  him- 
self that  it  had  actually  happened,  though  'I  'speck  you's 
lied  on  'at  white  man,'  is  the  judgment  of  a  less  susceptible 
Negro  auditor." 

CHARLES    W.    CHESNUTT. 

Charles  W.  Chesnutt  was  born  in  Cleveland,  Ohio,  in 
1858,  of  free-born  colored  parents  who  had  emigrated  to  Ohio 
from  North  Carolina  several  years  before  his  birth .  When 
he  was  eight  or  nine  years  old  his  parents  returned  to  North 
Carolina,  where  he  was  reared.  He  began  to  teach  in  the 
public  schools  of  that  State  at  sixteen,  and  early  in  the 


CHARLES  W.  CHESNUTT. 


124  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

eighties  became  first  assistant  teacher,  and  afterwards  princi- 
pal, of  the  State  Colored  Normal  School  at  Fayetteville,  North 
Carolina,  the  town  which,  under  the  name  of  ' '  Patesville, ' '  is 
the  scene  of  many  of  his  stories.  In  1883  he  left  the  South, 
and  after  a  short  sojourn  in  New  York,  during  which  he  was 
engaged  in  newspaper  work,  returned  to  Cleveland,  where  he 
has  since  resided.  He  was  for  a  while  employed  as  a  stenog- 
rapher in  the  law  department  of  the  New  York,  Chicago  and 
St.  Louis  Railway  Company.  He  was  admitted  to  practice 
at  the  Ohio  bar  in  1887. 

Mr.  Chesnutt's  literary  work  began  early,  but  was  en- 
tirely desultory  until  within  recent  years.  He  contributed 
short  stories  and  essays  to  the  periodical  press  at  various 
times,  and  in  1887  began  to  publish  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly 
the  series  of  dialect  stories  of  North  Carolina  folk-lore  and 
superstition  subsequently  published  under  the  title,  "The 
Conjure  Woman."  In  August,  1888,  his  story,  "The  Wife 
of  His  Youth,"  appeared  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly,  and  at- 
tracted wide  attention.  This  was  followed,  early  in  1899, 
by  "The  Conjure  Woman,"  and  later  in  the  same  year  by 
a  "Life  of  Frederick  Douglass,"  in  the  Beacon  Series  of 
American  Biographies,  and  "The  Wife  of  His  Youth  and 
Other  Stories  of  the  Color  Line,"  "The  House  Behind 
the  Cedars,"  a  novel,  published  in  1900,  and  "The  Marrow 
of  Tradition,"  1901,  a  novel  on  the  race  problem  in  the  South. 

The  favorable  reception  with  which  his  publications  met, 
North  and  South,  shows  that  almost  from  the  beginning  of 
his  serious  and  sustained  literary  labors  he  took  high  rank 
as  an  author.  Of  "The  House  Behind  the  Cedars"  the 
Boston  Herald  said:  "One  of  the  most  vitally  interesting 
books  touching  upon  racial  distinctions  in  the  South  that  we 
have  ever  read.  As  a  story  it  is  a  brilliant  performance — 
clear,  to  the  point,  keen  in  its  interest,  penetrating  in  its 
presentation  of  character." 

And  the  Cleveland  Plain  Dealer :  "It  cannot  fail  to  win 
for  Mr.  Chesnutt  an  honorable  place  among  those  novelists 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP. 


125 


whose  works  are  read  for  their  absorbing  interest  and  remem- 
bered because  they  have  a  deeper  purpose  than  the  mere 
amusement  of  an  idle  hour." 

The  Living  Church  (Milwaukee):  "It  has  delicacy  of 
manner,  strength,  and  imagination,  is  full  of  robust  Eng- 
lish, and  is  possessed  of  unusual  literary  merit." 

The  Richmond  (Va.)  Times:  "The. author's  treatment  of 
the  difficult  subject  is  strong,  delicate,  artistic,  and  gives  his 
novel  a  unique  place  in  American  literature." 

MISS   INEZ   C.    PARKER. 

There  is  now  living  in  Rolla,  Missouri,  a  young  woman 
who  is  a  remarkable  instance  of  the  fact  that  even  in  the 
higher  realms  of  thought  and 
feeling  which  are  regarded  as 
peculiar  to  the  most  gifted  of 
all  races — the  poets — the  Ne- 
gro may  be  at  home. 

Miss  Inez  C.  Parker,  the 
person  alluded  to,  is  less  not- 
able in  one  particular  than 
Phillis  Wheatley — and  only  a 
little  less,  even  in  that.  Miss 
Wheatley  was  born  a  savage, 
in  the  wilds  of  Africa;  brought 
a  captive  to  American  shores, 
utterly  ignorant  of  the  lan- 
guage which  she  was  afterward 
to  employ  to  make  her  famous; 
but  she  fell  in  the  hands  of 
generous  and  humane  people 
who  taught  her  carefully,  in- 
stilled refined  and  ennobling 
principles,  and  inspired  her  to  write  her  message — the  first 
,  given  out  by  a  Negro  woman — to  assure  the  English-speak- 
ing world,  in  its  own  tongue,  that  the  Muses  company  with 


MISS  INEZ  C.  PARKER. 


126  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

her  lowly  race.  Miss  Parker,  it  is  true,  was  born  free,  and 
in  the  land  of  light  and  liberty  and  ambitious  endeavor;  but 
she  was  born  of  parents  who  were  once  slaves,  and  are  still 
poor  and  humble  workers  for  their  daily  bread — the  father  a 
native  Georgian,  the  mother  a  native  Missourian.  They 
were  without  the  means  to  give  her  enlarged  opportunities 
for  education;  but  she  attended  the  public  schools,  afterward 
having  the  advantage  of  some  instruction  by  private  teach- 
ers, and  at  length  graduated  from  the  high  school  department 
of  the  public  school  of  her  native  town.  She  had  instruction 
in  music,  but  is  disposed  to  place  but  a  too  light  estimate  on 
her  proficiency;  and  one  authority*  says  that  unaided  she 
learned  French  so  as  to  both  speak  and  write  it,  and  that  she 
is  a  fair  Latin  scholar,  and  has  such  skill  as  an  artist  that 
some  paintings  of  hers  have  received  favorable  notice  from 
capable  critics.  She  is  said  to  be  an  omnivorous  reader,  and 
in  this  way  has  acquired  large  information,  liberal  views, 
and  a  lively  interest  in  all  that  concerns  mankind,  especially 
the  people  of  her  own  race. 

It  will  be  noted  that  the  beginnings  of  her  career,  though 
not  specially  auspicious,  were  somewhat  more  so  than  those 
of  Miss  Wheatley.  She  has  widened  the  contrast  between 
them  by  the  superiority  of  her  work.  Miss  Parker's  attain- 
ments as  a  scholar  are  probably  not  so  considerable,  but  she 
is  the  finer  genius  and  is  more  distinctly  the  true  poetess. 
Those  who  know  her  personally  speak  of  her  in  the  highest 
terms,  declaring  that  she  is  modest  and  amiable,  and  that 
her  character  is  above  reproach.  This  is  confirmed  by  the 
fact  that  the  former  slave-holding  families  now  residing  in 
Rolla  have  her  interests  at  heart  and  show  her  marked 
kindness — some  of  them  employing  her  to  teach  elocution 
and  music  in  their  families. 

Living  with  her  parents  in  the  house  in  which  she  was 
born,  she  devotes  her  time  to  study,  literary  work,  and 
occasional  teaching.  The  simplicity  of  her  life  evidently 

*  Dr.  J.  W.  McClure,  of 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  127 

has  its  influence  in  giving  that  tone  to  her  poetical  produc- 
tions which  appeals  to  the  human  heart  and  challenges 
admiration  by  its  fidelity  to  nature. 

She  has  written  a  great  deal  for  one  of  her  age,  and  much 
of  this  has  appeared  from  time  to  time  in  prominent  journals 
and  magazines.  Of  the  three  poems  that  follow  this  sketch, 
two  of  them  dialect,  it  may  be  remarked  that  the  lines  on 
"Hope"  won  the  prize  offered  by  a  Chicago  magazine  in 
which  it  was  afterward  published,  and  that  of  from  thirty  to 
forty  contestants  all  but  her  were  white.  The  " Honey 
Chile"  was  published  in  a  St.  Louis  paper  and  created  a  stir 
in  literary  circles.  A  cultured  gentleman  was  so  struck 
with  it  that  he  wrote  and  published  a  kind  of  answer  or 
companion  piece.  "When  Daddy  Plays  de  Banjo"  was 
published  in  the  St.  Louis  Post- Dispatch,  and  it  was  noticed 
editorially  in  a  most  complimentary  manner. 

Having  space  for  only  these,  they  are  submitted  to  the 
candid  judgment  of  the  reader.  The  writer  of  this  sketch 
is  informed  that  Miss  Parker  has  taken  several  prizes  for 
poems  and  short  stories. 

If  she  has  the  good  fortune  to  be  able  to  make  the  most 
of  her  powers,  she  is  destined  to  attain  to  rare  distinction  in 
the  literary  world, 

HOPE. 

The  morn  was  dreary  and  gray  with  mist, 
By  faintest  glimmer  of  gold  unkissed; 
But  Hope  looked  forth  with  a  vision  bright, 
And  whispered  low,  with  a  smile  of  light: 
"Oh,  heart,  dear  heart,  be  of  good  cheer; 
The  noon  will  be  fairer — never  fear!" 

Wind-swept  the  noon  came,  wet  with  rain, 
All  sighs  and  shadows,  all  tears  and  pain; 
But  Hope  looked  forth  with  a  steadfast  eye, 
And  whispered  low  as  the  wind  shrieked  by: 
"Oh,  heart,  faint  heart,  be  of  good  cheer; 
At  eve  'twill  be  fairer — never  fear!" 


128  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

The  shrouded  sun  found  a  cloudy  tomb, 
And  without  a  star  came  a  night  of  gloom; 
But  Hope  looked  forth  with  a  vision  bright, 
And  whispered  low,  with  a  smile  of  light: 
"Oh,  heart,  sad  heart,  be  of  good  cheer; 
The  morn  will  be  fairer — never  fear!" 

HONEY  CHILE. 

Passin'  'long  you's  prob'ly  seed  'im — 

He  wa'n't  very  big; 
But  wuz  jes  as  smaht  as  howdy  'n' 

Fatteh  dan  a  pig! 
He'd  sof  brown  cheeks  wid  two  big  dimples 

In  'em  when  'e'd  smile, 
An'  big  black  eyes  as  bright  as  dollahs — 

Dat  wuz  Honey  Chile. 

*     Spect  you's  seed  'im  lots  o'  times 

A-settin'  in  de  do', 
Wid  'is  playthings  all  around  'im 

Scattehed  on  de  flo' — 
He'd  toys  o'  mos'  all  soht  an'  'scription, 

Foh  I  spent  a  pile 
Gittin  ev'ything  I  could  to 

'Muse  my  Honey  Chile. 

Use  to  have  to  go  an*  leave  'im 

Soon  as  it  wuz  dawn, 
An'  when  he'd  wake  'e'd  fin'  'is  mammy'd 

Done  got  up  an'  gone; 
I  did  n'  know  my  wuhk  wuz  hahd 

An'  heavy  all  de  while; 
I  jes  made  it  light  by  thinkin' 

'Bout  my  Honey  Chile. 

In  de  evenin's  when  de  sun  wuz 

Sinkin'  in  de  wes', 
I'd  come  back — ole  mammy -bird — 

Back  to  de  li'F  home-nest; 
Lis'nin'  to  dat  baby  chirp 

My  haht  wid  joy  'u'd  bile, 
An'  I'd  sing  an'  be  so  happy 

Rockin'  Honey  Chile. 


I 


IN   HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  129 

Wukkin  in  de  white  folks'  kitchen 

I  'u'd  plot  an'  plan, 
How  I'd  raise  dat  boy  to  be 

De  fines'  kind  uv  man; 
Lots  o'  times  about  de  fewchah 

I'd  jes  have  to  smile, 
Think' n*  how  I  wuz  goin'  to  'range  it 

Foh  my  Honey  Chile. 

But  a  day  come  when  my  hopes 

Dey  vanish  lak  de  snow — 
Honey  Chile  he  went  to  sleep 

To  neveh  wake  no  mo' ! 
While  his  mammy's  haht  wuz  broke 

He  jes  lay  still 'an'  smile — 
Looked  jes  lak  a  liT  glad  angel — 

Oh,  my  Honey  Chile! 

Jes  peahs  lak  I  couldn't  stay  heah 

'Cept  I  wants  to  save 
'JSough  to  buy  a  pretty  mon'ment 

Foh  dat  baby's  grave; 
An'  I  wants  to  have  dis  on  it, 

Writ  in  propeh  style: 
"Tell  we  meets  bey  on'  de  riveh, 
Good-bye,  Honey  Chile." 


WHEN  DADDY  PLAYS  DE  BANJO 

When  daddy  plays  de  banjo 

'E  smiles  jes  kinder  gay, 
An'  'is  foot  jes  taps  de  flo'  right  sof 

An'  'is  eyes  look  fah  away; 
An'  up  an'  down  an'  'cross  de  strings 

'Is  han'  behgins  to  walk, 
An'  us  chillen  lis'en  stiller' n  mice 

To  hear  dat  banjo  talk. 

'E  don'  have  time  to  play  it  much 

Except'n'  in  de  night, 
Afteh  suppeh  when  de  dishes 

Am  all  washed  an'  out  o'  sight; 


THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

Den  daddy  goes  right  to  de  wall 

An'  lif's  dat  banjo  down, 
An'  behgins  to  choon  it  up  an'  make 

Hit  make  a  funny  soun'. 

But  when  he  do  behgin  to  play 

Jes  lis'en  an'  be  still! 
Kazeyou'sgoin'  to  hear  de  mockm'-bird 

Behgin  to  chirp  an'  trill, 
An'  de  sky'll  be  blue  and  sunny, 

An'  you'll  hear  de  hum  uv  bees, 
An'  you'll  feel  de  souf  win'  blowin' 

Thoo  de  blossoms  on  de  trees. 

You'll  hear  de  brook  a-tinkle-tinkliu? 

'Cross  de  pebbles  white, 
An'  a-dimplin'  an'  a-dancin'' 

In  de  shaddeh  an'  de  light; 
Den  you'll  hear  de  bell  a-ringin', 

An'  de  folks  a-singin'  choons, 
At  de  chu'ch  what  we  all  goes  to 

Uv  a  Sunday  aftehnoons. 

Den  daddy  stracks  anudder  choon 

An'  you  behgins  to  think 
About  de  "swing  yo'  pardners  all," 

An'  L,izy  dresst  in  pink, 
Wid  roses  in  'er  hair,  an'  slim 

White  slippers  on  her  feet, 
An'  how,  when  she  am  goin'  to  dancet 

She  look  so  mighty  neat. 

A-lis'nin'  to  de  music  den 

Peahs  lak  de  sun  shine  clare, 
Den  suddent,  'fo'  you  knows  it, 

Dah  am  twilight  in  de  air, 
An'  great  big  twinkly  stars  come  out. 

All  hazy,  soft  an'  slow, 
An'  'mongs'  de  pines  a  night-bird  sings 

Right  trembly-lak  an'  low. 

An'  den  you  jis  kin  shet  yo'  eyes 

An'  see  de  purply  sky 
Wid  de  new  moon  hangin'  in  it 
a  sickle  'way  up  high, 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP. 


An'  den  you  thinks  about  dat  star — 
Hit's  bigger  dan  de  rest — 

Dat  shines  right  'bove  HT  buddy's  grave 
Out  yander  in  de  -west. 

You  feels  de  dew  a-fallin' 

An'  hears  mammy  sorter  sigh, 
An'  you  jes  keeps  on  a-grinnin, 

Yet  you'd  somehow  lak  to  cry; 
An'  you's  stiller  dan  befo'  to  hear 

Dem  tones  so  sof  an'  deep, 
When  all  to  oncet  de  music  stops 

An'  daddy  am  asleep! 


MISS    EFFIE    WALLER. 

Pike,  the  extreme  east- 
ern part  of  Kentucky,  in 
a  mountainous  region, 
where  the  colored  popula- 
tion has  always  been  so 
small  as  to  make  it  diffi- 
cult for  the  State  to  main- 
tain schools  into  which 
the  scattered  children 
could  be  gathered,  is  to 
be  credited  with  a  poetess, 
the  daughter  of  parents 
who  before  the  war  were 
Negro  slaves. 

Effie  Waller  was  born 
in  Pikeville — the  young- 
est of  the  four  children  of 
Frank  and  Sibbie  Waller. 
During  her  earlier  school 
years  her  parents  lived  at 
a  distance  of  more  than 
four  miles  from  the  near- 
est school.  They  were 


MISS  KFFIR  WALLER. 


132  THE    NEGRO    IN   REVELATION, 

unable  to  provide  for  private  tuition,  and  as  she  was  of  delicate 
health  she  was  able  to  attend  school  very  little;  but  by  dint 
of  personal  application  she  attained  to  such  scholarship  by 
the  time  she  was  eighteen  that  she  secured  a  certificate  of 
proficiency  to  teach  in  the  common  schools  of  the  State, 
since  which  time  she  has  had  fair  success  in  that  way  when 
not  attending  the  State  Normal  School  at  Frankfort,  which 
she  did  during  the  years  1900  and  1901. 

She  began  to  practice  "the  rhyming  art"  at  a  very  early 
age,  contributing  poems  to  the  newspapers  of  Pikeville, 
Kentucky,  and  Williamson,  West  Virginia.  Lately  she  has 
made  a  collection  of  her  productions,  to  be  brought  out  in 
book  form,  entitled  "Songs  of  the  Months  and  Other  Poems. ' ' 


CHAPTER  VI. 
THE  NEGRO  IN  BUSINESS. 

THE  following  seven  papers  are  among  those  submitted  to 
the  Fourth  Annual  Conference  held  in  Atlanta,  Georgia, 
to  consider  various  questions  as  to  the  condition,  prospects 
and  needs  of  the  Negroes,  as  planned  by  the  Atlanta  Univer- 
sity, some  years  ago.  All  except  the  address  of  Governor 
Candler  were  written  by  Negroes  who  have  special  knowl- 
edge of  their  subjects.  Prof.  John  Hope  is  a  teacher  in  one 
of  the  Atlanta  institutions  and  a  graduate  of  Brown  Univer- 
sity. Miss  Hattie  G.  Escridge  is  a  graduate  of  Atlanta 
University,  and  is  book-keeper  in  her  father's  grocery  store. 
Mr.  H.  E.  Lindsay  is  a  very  successful  Negro  merchant,  and 
Mr.  W.  O.  Murphy,  also  a  graduate  of  Atlanta  University, 
is  junior  partner  in  one  of  the  oldest  Negro  firms  in  that 
city.  Mr.  C.  W.  Fearn  is  the  manager  of  a  very  interesting 
co-operative  venture  among  Negro  mechanics  of  Chattanooga. 
Messrs.  Porter  and  Seabrooke,  from  whose  thesis  paper  No. 
VII.  is  compiled,  were  seniors  •in  Atlanta  University  in 
1899.  The  latter  has,  since  graduation,  gone  into  the  shoe 
business  in  Charleston,  South  Carolina. 

I.    OPENING   ADDRESS   OF   THE   HON.  ALLAN   D.    CANDLER, 
GOVERNOR   OF  GEORGIA. 

Mi .  President,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Conference: — 
I  have  come  before  you  tonight  with  no  prepared  oration  or 
speech.  My  duties  are  so  exacting,  that  I  have  no  time 
really  to  prepare  such  an  address  as  this  occasion  merits.  I 
have  come  because  I  am  a  friend  to  this  old  institution,  and 
because  I  want  you  to  know  that  the  State  of  Georgia,  through 
its  chief  executive,  recognizes  the  usefulness  of  this  iustitu- 

133 


134  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

tion  to  the  State.  (Applause.)  And  first,  I  want  to  endorse 
as  my  sentiments,  and  the  sentiments  of  all  good  men  in  this 
commonwealth,  the  remarks  which  have  been  made  by  your 
distinguished  president.  All  good  men,  fair  men,  philan- 
thropic men,  in  this  State  endorse  every  one  of  those  remarks. 
"The  Negro  in  Business:"  It  is  a  theme  worthy  of  the  at- 
tention of  every  patriot  in  this  and  every  other  State  in  the 
greatest  Republic  of  all  the  ages. 

Unfortunately,  in  our  portion  of  the  great  Republic,  there 
have  been  too  few  avenues  to  successful  effort  open  even  to 
the  white  race,  and  much  fewer  avenues  to  successful  effort 
open  to  the  colored  race.  A  generation  ago  we  emerged  from 
one  of  the  most  cruel,  and  I  would  be  pardoned  to  say,  that 
in  my  judgment,  one  of  the  most  unnecessary  wars  that  ever 
devastated  the  face  of  the  earth.  The  result  of  this  war  was 
the  freeing  of  the  colored  race;  and  like  the  young  child 
which  has  not  long  had  an  opportunity  to  be  taught,  a  new 
world  was  opened  to  this  race.  The  position  that  the}''  oc- 
cupied prior  to  that  time  was  entirely  changed.  They  be- 
came in  the  eyes  of  the  law  the  equals  of  the  other  races  that 
inhabit  this  Republic.  They  were  clothed  not  only  with  all 
the  privileges,  but  all  the  responsibilities  of  citizenship.  The 
scenes  that  surrounded  them  were  new  scenes;  they  had 
never  been  accustomed  to  them.  They  were  like  a  child  that 
is  transported  in  a  day  from  the  scenes  of  his  birth  to  other 
scenes,  entirely  different,  if  you  please,  on  another  continent. 
Necessarily,  those  things  which  attracted  their  attention  at 
that  time  being  novel,  not  only  attracted,  but  riveted  their 
attention.  Yet  the  things  which  they  saw,  the  conditions  that 
existed  were  abnormal  conditions.  The  people  of  the  entire 
South  were  in  a  state  of  turmoil,  in  an  abnormal  state.  In 
other  words,  everybody  talked  about  the  war,  and  about  the 
results  of  the  war,  and  especially  did  everybody  talk  about 
politics. 

The  young  men  of  my  own  race  at  that  time  saw  things 
that  I  had  never  seen;  saw  things  that  the  men  who  had 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP. 


135 


controlled  the  destinies  of  this  State  prior  to  that  time,  had 
never  seen.  They  saw  a  riot  at  the  polls,  they  saw  methods 
employed  by  political  parties,  and  I  exempt  none — all  were 
guilty — they  saw  methods  employed  by  political  parties,  in 
party  elections,  which  were  perfectly  abhorrent  to  the  men 
who  had  controlled  the  destinies  of  this  State  prior  to  that 


H.  MOSS. 
An  enterprising  Afro-American  of  Boston,  Massachusetts, 

time;  and  these  young  men  of  my  race,  and  the  colored  men, 
seeing  these  things,  concluded  that  that  was  politics,  legit- 
imate politics,  and  hearing  nobody  talk  about  anything  but 
politics,  they  concluded  that  politics  was  the  chief  end  of  life; 
but  in  this  conference  to-day,  in  the  discussion  of  the  prob- 
lems, we  are  realizing  the  fact  that  there  are  other  things 


136  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

besides  politics.  Those  men,  as  a  rule,  no  matter  in  what 
class  or  race  they  belong,  who  regard  politics  as  the  chief  end 
of  life,  are  always  unsatisfactory  citizens  of  the  country,  no 
matter  to  what  race  they  belong. 

But  it  is  not  astonishing  that  the  young  men  of  thirty- 
years  ago  —  the  young  men  of  both  races,  who  had  aspira- 
tions, who  desired  to  make  for  themselves  a  name  in  the 
world — concluded  and  looked  upon  politics  as  the  only 
avenue  to  distinction,  because  that  is  all  they  discussed. 
Nobody  talked  anything  else.  Upon  the  farms  you  would 
hear  the  old  colored  men  and  the  white  men  talk  about  their 
cotton  crops;  you  would  hear  that,  but  there  was  no  dis- 
tinction in  that.  Those  that  desired  to  make  for  themselves 
a  name,  saw  no  avenue  except  through  politics.  Now  other 
avenues  are  open,  and  in  the  future  still  other  avenues  will 
be  opened.  It  is  more  honorable  to  be  a  successful  merchant, 
or  to  be  a  useful,  intelligent  mechanic,  than  it  is  to  be  a 
third-rate  member  of  the  American  Congress.  A  man  serves 
his  God  better,  because  congressmen,  when  I  was  in  Con- 
gress, didn't  serve  God  much;  they  served  the  other  fellow. 
He  can  serve  his  fellow-citizens  better,  and  he  will  serve  his 
God  better  than  any  man  who  stands  in  the  arena  of  partisan 
politics. 

Now  it  has  been  demonstrated  in  this  old  institution. 
Thirty  years  ago  I  was  a  teacher.  I  took  an  interest  in 
educational  matters.  I  came  here  when  they  were  founding 
the  Atlanta  University  for  the  training  of  the  youth  of  the 
Negro  race  for  usefulness  and  good  citizenship,  because  I  had 
an  interest  in  it.  From  that  time  to  this  I  have  not  been  on 
this  ground.  During  that  thirty  years  I  know  that  this 
institution  has  done  more  (and  I  do  not  desire  to  disparage 
other  institutions;  I  do  not  intend  to  disparage  them),  so  far 
as  my  information  has  gone,  to  elevate  the  colored  race  than 
any  other  institution  in  the  bounds  of  this  State.  (Applause. ) 
You  have  done  a  good  work;  you  have  been  a  conservative 


IN   HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  137 

people;  and  there  is  a  great  work  ahead  of  you  yet  —  a  great 
work  especially  for  all  the  teachers  of  this  country,  of  both 
races. 

I  do  believe  that  education  properly  so  called,  training  in 
arts  and  science  and  literature,  and  morality,  and  especially 
in  morality,  is  the  most  potent,  indeed  the  only,  education 
that  can  make  us  citizens  worthy  of  the  great  Republic  in 
which  we  live;  and  thus  believing,  I  came  here  tonight  to 
lend  whatever  encouragement  I  can  to  this  institution  which, 
I  repeat,  is  doing  more,  in  my  judgment,  and  has  done  more, 
for  the  elevation  of  the  race  for  which  it  is  intended  than  any 
other  institution  in  Georgia. 

I  want  you  to  know  that  I  am  in  full  sympathy  with  you. 
I  want  you  to  know  that  I  represent  ninety  per  cent  of  the 
people  of  my  race  in  this  State.  I  want  you  to  know  that 
while  there  are  men  in  Georgia  who  do  not  feel  as  I  do  about 
this  matter — who  do  not  feel  that  institutions  like  this, 
intended  for  the  colored  race,  should  receive  the  encourage- 
ment of  every  white  man  in  Georgia  —  the  percentage  of 
those  is  very  small. 

I  want  to  say  tonight,  in  all  sincerity,  that  the  only  con- 
soling feature  and  reflection  in  connection  with  some  of  the 
horrid  scenes  that  have  been  enacted  in  this  State  in  the 
past  —  the  only  consoling  reflection  is,  that  those  men  who 
have  engaged  in  these  things  constitute  a  very  small  per- 
centage of  both  races.  The  man  who  would  denounce  the 
entire  colored  race  for  the  act  of  one  member  of  that  race,  or 
a  few  members  of  that  race,  is  unjust.  The  man  who  would 
denounce  the  entire  white  race  of  this  State  because  of  the 
lawless  acts  of  a  few,  is  unjust.  The  people  of  Georgia  are 
made  of  the  same  flesh  and  bones  as  their  brethren  in  New 
England.  Georgia  was  one  of  the  old  Thirteen.  Massachu- 
setts was  one,  and  so  was  Connecticut,  and  so  was  New  York. 
We  were  one  people,  with  one  common  cause,  and  established 
the  greatest  Republic  that  has  ever  existed  in  the  annals  of 
the  world;  and  we  are  now  one  people,  and  if  crimes  are 


138  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

committed  here  in  Georgia  now  by  my  race,  don't  blame  me. 
Don't  blame  the  teachers,  and  the  law-abiding  people  of  this 
State;  they  are  not  responsible  for  them.  If  crimes  are  com- 
mitted by  the  colored  race,  don't  blame  the  entire  colored 
race  for  it,  for  I  tell  you  before  God  tonight  that  I  believe 
that  ninety  per  cent  of  the  colored  race  of  Georgia  desire  to 
be  law-abiding  citizens.  They  are  as  patriotic  as  I  am,  and 
there  is  a  very  small  proportion  of  the  races  that  are  respon- 
sible for  these  troubles.  I  was  reared  among  the  colored 
race.  I  have  lived  with  them  all  my  life,  and  I  know  that 
there  are  good  white  people,  and  I  know  that  there  are  good 
colored  people,  and  I  know  that  there  are  bad  white  people, 
and  I  know  that  there  are  bad  colored  people.  I  would  advise 
all  of  my  fellow-citizens  of  both  races  to  draw  a  line,  separat- 
ing the  virtuous  and  intelligent  on  the  one  side,  from  the 
vicious  and  ignorant  on  the  other;  and  when  we  have  drawn 
that  line,  and  arrayed  ourselves  on  both  sides  of  it,  let  those 
who  love  order,  and  who  love  justice,  and  who  love  equity, 
fair  play,  let's  be  careful  that  those  who  are  allied  on  one 
side,  on  the  side  of  ignorance  and  vice,  let's  be  careful  that 
they  do  not  pull  us  over  on  their  side.  We  will  reach  our 
hands  to  them,  good  white  men  and  colored  men  —  we  will 
stretch  out  our  hands  to  those  fellows  on  the  other  side,  and 
pull  them  over  to  us,  if  we  can;  but  let's  not  allow  them  to 
pull  us  over  on  their  side. 

I  know  that  the  colored  man  is  as  loyal  to  his  friends  as 
I  am.  I  know  that  he  loves  law  and  order.  I  know  this, 
that  it  has  taken  my  race  six  hundred  years  to  get  up  to  the 
point  where  we  are.  I  know  it  is  unreasonable  to  suppose 
that  a  race  emerging  from  a  state  of  servitude  should  accom- 
plish in  one  generation  what  it  has  taken  our  race  six  hun- 
dred years  to  accomplish.  But  at  the  same  time  I  know  that 
these  same  colored  men  and  women  in  Georgia  are  just  as  loyal 
to  their  convictions,  and  to  their  duties,  and  as  God-serving, 
and  as  God-loving  as  my  race  are;  and  we  want  to  teach  one 
thing,  not  the  law  of  hate,  but  the  law  of  love.  Hate  never 


CAPT,  J.  W.  WARMSLEY. 
Now  in  the  Philippine  Islands. 


140  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

benefited  anybody;  love  benefits  everybody.  Because,  I 
repeat,  I  believe  the  only  real  happiness  ever  enjoyed  in  this 
world  is  in  an  effort  to  make  other  people  happy. 

But  I  have  spoken  to  you  longer  than  I  intended.  I  would 
not  have  gone  anywhere  else  tonight  but  to  the  Atlanta 
University.  I  have  some  visitors  at  my  house  that  I  have 
not  seen  for  forty  years,  and  I  excused  myself,  telling  them 
that  I  felt  it  my  duty  to  come  over  to  Atlanta  University  and 
lend  my  assistance  in  the  effort  to  elevate  and  benefit  the  race 
among  whom  I  have  been  born  and  reared,  and  for  whom  I 
have  nothing  but  the  kindest  feeling  and  regard,  and  for 
whose  elevation  I  have  the  most  earnest  desire;  and  besides, 
one  of  my  guests  told  me  to  come,  and  I  have  come.  I  have 
delivered  my  little  message.  I  have  spoken  sincerely,  and 
I  wish  you  God-speed  in  this  work,  and  I  believe  that  useful  as 
the  Atlanta  University  has  been  in  the  past,  that  on  the  line 
of  this  discussion,  that  the  colored  race  will  be  crowned  with 
abundant  success.  God  grant  that  it  may  be.  (Applause.) 

II.     THE   MEANING   OF   BUSINESS. 

(Paper  submitted  by  Professor  John  Hope,  of  the  Atlanta  Baptist  College.) 

The  Negro  status  has  changed  considerably  since  the 
Civil  War,  but  he  is  today  to  a  great  extent  what  he  has 
always  been  in  this  country — the  laborer,  the  day  hand,  the 
man  who  works  for  wages.  The  great  hiring  class  is  the 
white  people.  The  Negro  develops  the  resources,  the  white 
man  pays  him  for  his  services.  To  be  sure,  some  few  Negroes 
have  accumulated  a  little  capital.  But  the  rule  has  been  as 
I  have  stated:  the  white  man  has  converted  and  reconverted 
the  Negro's  labor  and  the  Negro's  money  into  capital  until 
we  find  an  immense  section  of  developed  country  owned  by 
whites  and  worked  by  colored. 

However,  the  Negroes  multiply,  and  the  succeeding  gen- 
erations, though  wiser,  show  no  alarming  signs  of  physical 
weakness.  Therefore,  if  we  still  have  a  demand  for  our 
services  as  laborer,  the  wolf  can  be  kept  from  the  door.  We 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  141 

can  still  eat,  drink  and  be  merry,  with  no  thought  of  tomor- 
row's death.  But  in  that  contingency  we  perceive  a  portent. 
To  say  "if  we  still  have  a  demand  for  our  services"  implies 
a  doubt.  Already  the  Negro  has  no  monopoly  of  the  labor 
market.  The  white  man  is  his  competitor  in  many  fields; 
and  in  some  of  the  humbler  walks,  here  in  the  South  where 
honest  toil  has  been  held  in  reproach,  white  men  are  crowding 
Negroes  out  of  places  which  in  my  childhood  belonged  to 
the  Negro  by  right  of  his  birth.  For  in  the  matter  of  inherit- 
ing work  the  Negro  has  been  a  prince.  But  we  are  already 
opening  our  eyes  to  the  fact  that  we  are  not  employed  South 
because  we  are  loved,  but  because  we  are  a  necessity,  and 
that  as  soon  as  white  capital  can  secure  competent  white 
labor  for  the  same  money  with  which  it  secures  Negro  labor, 
white  capital  is  seized  with  a  violent  attack  of  race  sympathy, 
and  refuses  to  hire  Negroes  where  white  men  are  obtainable. 
To  say  nothing  of  high-grade  artisans  like  brickmasons  and 
carpenters,  who  are  crowding  Negroes,  you  see  white  porters, 
ditchers,  newsboys,  elevator  boys,  and  the  like,  getting  posi- 
tions once  the  exclusive  property  of  our  people. 

Let  me  say  here,  that  while  ignorance  and  incompetency 
may  in  some  sense  explain  the  mysterious  departure  of  the 
Negro  whitewasher,  carpenter,  newsboy  and  washer-woman 
in  many  quarters,  I  have  seen  too  many  competent  Negroes 
superseded  by  whites — at  times  incompetent  whites — to  lay 
much  stress  on  ignorance  and  incompetency  as  a  total  expla- 
nation. This  change  of  affairs  in  the  labor  market  South  is 
due  to  competition  between  the  races  in  new  fields.  The 
labor  prince  finds  himself  losing  some  of  his  old  estate. 
Industrial  education  and  labor  unions  for  Negroes  will  not 
change  his  condition.  They  may  modify  it,  but  the  condi- 
tion will  not  be  very  materially  changed.  The  white  man 
will  meet  the  Negro  on  the  same  ground  and  work  for  the 
same  wages.  That  much  we  may  as  well  take  for  granted, 
calculate  the  consequences  of  it,  and  strive  by  every  means 
co  overcome  this  falling  off  in  our  old-time  advantages. 


142  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

We  must  take  in  some,  if  not  all,  of  the  wages,  turn  it 
into  capital,  hold  it,  increase  it.  This  must  be  done  as  a 
means  of  employment  for  the  thousands  who  cannot  get 
work  from  old  sources.  Employment  must  be  had,  and  this 
employment  will  have  to  come  to  Negroes  from  Negro 
sources. 

This  phase  of  the  Negro's  condition  is  so  easily  seen 
that  it  needs  no  further  consideration.  Negro  capital  will 
have  to  give  an  opportunity  to  Negro  workmen  who  will  be 
crowded  out  by  white  competition;  and  when  I  say  Negro 
workmen  I  would  include  both  sexes.  Twenty-five  years 
from  today  it  will  be  a  less  marvelous  phenomenon  for  col- 
ored girls  and  women  to  see  white  girls  and  women  pushing 
baby  carriages  and  carrying  clothes-baskets  than  it  is  today 
for  white  women  to  see  colored  women  performing  on  the 
piano.  Employment  for  colored  men  and  women,  colored 
boys  and  girls,  must  be  supplied  by  colored  people. 

But  supposing  there  should  remain  our  old-time  monopoly 
of  labor;  suppose  we  should  do  all  the  tearing  down  and 
building  up  and  draw  our  wages,  man  by  man,  and  there 
should  be  no  press  for  bread,  no  fear  of  the  winter's  blast, 
from  the  winter's  poverty;  could  we  as  a  race  afford  to  re- 
main the  great  labor  class,  subject  to  the  great  capitalist 
class?  The  wage-earner,  the  man  on  a  salary,  may,  by 
rigid  self-denial,  secure  for  himself  a  home,  he  may  besides 
husband  his  earnings  so  carefully  as  to  have  a  small  income, 
but  the  wage-earner  and  man  of  salary  seldom  save  a  com- 
petence. It  is  exceedingly  rare  that  they  can  retire  from 
labor  and  spend  an  old  age  of  leisure  with  dignity.  It  is 
usually  the  case  that  their  last  and  feeblest  days  mark  their 
most  desperate  struggle  for  sustenance.  At  that  time  of  life 
when  men  ought  to  be  most  able  to  provide  for  themselves 
and  others,  these  men  are  least  able.  There  is  little  or  no  in- 
dependence in  the  wage-earner,  because  there  is  no  practical 
security.  Bread  is  a  great  arbiter  in  this  world.  Say  what 
you  will  of  liberty  and  religion,  back  of  the  shrillest,  most 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  143 

heart-rending  cries  this  hard  old  world  has  ever  heard  has 
been  the  need  of  bread.  The  name  of  the  cry  may  have 
been  liberty,  it  may  have  been  taxation  without  representa- 
tion, it  may  have  been  vested  rights,  but  much  of  the  truth 
is  that  men  have  wanted  the  bread  conditions  to  be  easier. 
Millions  of  empty  stomachs  made  the  French  Revolution 
possible.  There  is  not  much  race  independence  for  the  race 
that  cannot  speak  its  mind  through  men  whose  capital  can 
help  or  harm  those  who  would  bring  oppression.  We  need 
capital  to  dictate  terms.  This  notion  is  old  enough  but 
bears  repetition. 

However,  suppose  the  wolf  is  kept  from  the  door,  and  sup- 
pose the  Negro  has  such  independence  as  the  law  now  grants 
white  men.  Suppose  he  can  go  and  come  as  other  men  do; 
suppose  he  is  molested  in  no  political  or  civil  rights,  and 
suppose  he  gets  a  fair  trial  under  the  most  unfavorable  cir- 
cumstances, is  all  this  the  summum  bonum,  is  this  the  end 
of  life — that  it  brings  man  to  the  point  where  he  has  his 
bread  and  his  rights?  It  seems  to  me  that  the  highest  priv- 
ilege, the  greatest  blessing,  and  the  highest  point  of 
development  which  any  man  could  seek,  is  that  of  being  an 
interested  and  controlling  member  in  the  foremost  matters 
of  his  own  country,  and  through  this  interest  and  control 
becoming  a  partner  in  the  world's  activity.  We  are  taught  in 
Holy  Writ  that  we  cannot  live  by  bread  alone,  and  that  life 
is  more  than  raiment.  Nor  has  man  gained  all  that  appeals 
to  him  as  worth  possession  when  he  has  his  rights.  Rights 
every  man  ought  to  have  equal  with  every  other  man.  But 
we  are  infinitely  better  off  when  we  not  only  have  the  rights 
but  comprehend  their  significance,  the  cause  and  the  use  of 
them.  To  attain  to  this  position  of  dignity  and  manhood 
we  must  get  into  the  world  current.  We  cannot  stem  it  by 
standing  on  the  shore,  nor  can  we  ever  know  its  power  until 
we  have  leaped  into  the  rushing  stream. 

This  partnership  in  the  world's  business,  to  be  sure,  is 
fostered  by  the  guarantee  of  fair  enforcement  of  equal  laws. 


144  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

But  the  desire  for  partnership,  and  the  ability  to  be  partner, - 
mnst  be  in  the  man  himself.  The  law  and  public  sentiment 
may  protect  a  business  man,  but  they  cannot  make  him. 
The  making  is  largely  with  the  man  himself.  Now  the  age 
in  which  we  are  living  is  an  economic  one;  manufacturing 
and  merchandising  claim  the  world's  attention.  No  doubt 
this  remark  in  a  modified  form  has  been  made  time  and  time 
again,  ever  since  Jacob  of  old  carried  on  his  little  business 
transactions.  But  as  we  scan  history,  it  does  appear  that, 
through  combinations  and  inventions,  we  are  now  under  the 
immediate  sway  of  business  more  than  humanity  has  ever 
been  before.  Life  and  progress  are  most  perceptible  today 
in  business  activities.  To  be  sure  there  are  religious,  moral 
and  educational  movements,  glorious,  noble  and  far-reaching. 
But  the  greatest,  at  least  in  its  immediate  consequences  on 
the  world,  is  the  business  movement;  and  nobody  can  tell 
to  what  extent  even  the  moral,  religious  and  educational 
efforts  are  influenced  by  business  motives.  Education  and 
philanthropy  often  find  their  explanation  in  terms  of  busi- 
ness. Whenever  an  enterprise  is  proposed,  the  question 
arises,  not  is  it  right,  is  it  best,  but  does  it  pay,  how  much 
will  it  bring?  Empires  have  their  reason  for  being,  not 
through  abstract  formulae  of  political  principles,  not  through 
religious  creeds,  but  through  their  value  to  the  world's  busi- 
ness. It  is  not  thirst  for  Christianity  that  is  joining  Russia 
with  the  Chinese  sea,  and  the  historic  shores  of  northern 
Africa,  with  the  diamond  fields  of  the  south.  The  struggle 
for  business,  buying  and  selling  and  owning  are  actually  to- 
day the  most  daring  and  gigantic  undertakings  that  have 
marred  and  made  this  world.  I  am  not  here  to  defend  these 
motives,  but  to  point  out  their  existence,  and  to  say,  that 
our  temporal,  I  say  nothing  of  spiritual,  salvation  depends 
on  our  aptitude  for  conceiving  the  significance  of  present- 
day  movements,  and  becoming  a  conscious,  positive,  ag- 
gressive party  to  them. 

This  idea  of  business  is  a  large  one,  I  admit.     And  many 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  145 

a  man  accumulates  thousands  of  dollars  without  realizing 
his  relations  to  the  rest  of  the  world,  his  dependence  on  the 
world,  and  his  independence  of  it  as  a  result  of  his  accumu- 
lations. But  it  is  this  idea  that  ought  to  be  promoted  among 
us  in  order  that  men  of  education  and  power  may  know  that 
outside  of  the  learned  professions  there  is  a  vast  field  for  per- 
sonal honor  and  emolument,  and  for  doing  a  great  public  good. 
In  fact,  we  can  have  very  few  really  learned  professional 
men  until  we  do  have  some  capital,  for  a  professional  man 
must  have  time  and  facilities  for  increasing  his  knowledge. 
These  cannot  be  obtained  without  money.  This  money 
must  come  from  Negroes.  Wage-earners  alone  cannot  sup- 
ply enough  money.  I  therefore  regard  it  as  a  menace  to  the 
progress  and  utility  of  professional  men  that  business  enter- 
prise among  us  increases  so  slowly.  We  have  not  enough  of 
teachers,  preachers  and  physicians.  In  fact,  there  is  still 
room,  even  under  present  conditions,  for  a  few  more  lawyers. 
But  none  of  these  make  sufficient  money  to  supply  them  ad- 
vantages necessary  to  their  highest  development  and 
usefulness.  More  money  diffused  among  the  masses  through 
Negro  capital  will  alter  this  unfavorable  state  of  things.  No 
field  calls  for  trained  minds  and  creative  genius  to  a  greater 
extent  than  does  business.  To  calculate  prices  months 
hence,  to  see  what  will  be  the  result  with  such  and  such  a 
factor  removed  or  introduced,  calls  for  men  of  large  parts  and 
superior  knowledge,  no  matter  where  gained.  I  know  of 
no  men  who  as  a  class  go  so  far  for  the  good  of  others  as  do 
Negro  men  for  the  good  of  the  race.  There  is  a  big  lump 
of  public  spirit  among  us.  All  we  need  is  to  be  shown  how 
to  use  this  public  spirit.  From  now  on,  for  many  years,  it 
must  be  employed  in  business  channels,  if  it  would  do  most 
and  immediate  service. 

I  do  not  believe  that  the  ultimate   contribution   of   the 

Negro  to  the  world  will  be  his  development  of  natural  forces. 

It  is  to  be  more  than  that.     There  are  in  him  emotional, 

spiritual  elements  that  presage  gifts  from  the  Negro  more  en- 

10 


146  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

nobling  aiid  enduring  than  factories  and  railroads  and  banks. 
But  without  these  factories,  railroads  and  banks  he  cannot 
accomplish  his  highest  aim.  We  are  living  among  the  so- 
called  Anglo-Saxons  and  dealing  with  them.  They  are  a 
conquering  people  who  turn  their  conquests  into  their  pock- 
ets. The  vanquished  may  not  always  recognize  this  as  true, 
but  the  fact  remains.  Now  our  end  as  a  race  most  likely 
will  not  be  of  the  same  nature  as  that  of  the  Anglo-Saxon. 
In  the  long  run  each  will  play  a  very  different  part;  but,  for 
the  present,  for  the  sake  of  self-preservation  and  for  the  sake 
of  grasping  the  meaning  of  the  civilization  in  which  we  live, 
we  must  to  a  large  extent  adopt  the  life  and  use  the  methods 
of  this  people  with  whom  we  are  associated.  Business  seems 
to  be  not  simply  the  raw  material  of  Anglo-Saxon  civiliza- 
tion— and  by  business  I  mean  those  efforts  directly  or  indi- 
rectly concerned  with  a  purposive  tendency  to  material 
development  and  progress,  with  the  point  in  view  of  the 
effort  bringing  material  profit  or  advantage  to  the  one  mak- 
ing the  effort;  and  I  would  include  all  such  efforts,  whether 
made  in  peace  or  war.  I  was  saying,  business  seems  to  be 
not  simply  the  raw  material  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  civilization , 
but  almost  the  civilization  itself.  It  is  at  least  its  main- 
spring to  action.  Living  among  such  a  people  is  it  not 
obvious  that  we  cannot  escape  its  most  powerful  motive  and 
survive?  To  the  finite  vision,  to  say  the  least,  the  policy 
of  avoiding  entrance  in  the  world's  business  would  be  suicide 
to  the  Negro.  Yet  as  a  matter  of  great  account,  we  ought 
to  note  that  as  good  a  showing  as  we  have  made,  that  show- 
ing is  but  as  pebbles  on  the  shore  of  business  enterprise. 

Ladies  and  gentlemen,  I  have  talked  on  for  some  minutes 
without  giving  you  the  name  of  the  talk.  I  once  heard  a 
scholarly  Massachusetts  congressman  lecture,  and  he  said 
the  subject  of  his  lecture  was  " Whence  and  Whither,"  but 
that  the  subject  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  lecture.  In 
refusing  to  christen  my  remaks  I  may  escape  the  charge  of 
irrelevance.  Yet,  if  you  force  me  to  a  confession,  I  dare  say 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  147 

I  had  in  mind  "The  business  man's  contribution  to  the  de- 
velopment of  our  race." 

All  of  us  know  that  material  wealth  is  not  the  test  of  highest 
development  and  manhood.  Yet,  inasmuch  as  this  highest 
development  is  dependent  on  the  material  foundation,  the 
man  who  lays  that  foundation  is  as  great  a  benefactor  to  the 
race  as  that  man  or  generation  that  will  in  the  end  present 
that  final  gift,  which  shall  yield  the  rich,  ripe  fruit  of  the 
emotions  and  the  soul — the  consummation  of  those  aspira- 
tions that  look  beyond  material  things  to  the  things  that  are 
abiding  and  eternal.  In  some  such  noble  form  as  this  the 
vocation  of  the  business  man  presents  itself  to  me;  and  were 
I  a  vender  of  peanuts  or  an  owner  of  a  mill,  I  should  feel 
that  I,  along  with  preachers  and  teachers  and  the  rest  of  the 
saints,  was  doing  God's  service  in  the  cause  of  the  elevation 
of  my  people. 

III.  THE  NEED  OF  NEGRO  MERCHANTS. 

(Abstract  of  paper  submitted  by  Miss  Hattie  G.  Escridge,  N,  '98.) 

One  way,  I  think,  toward  the  solution  of  the  much-talked- 
of  Negro  problem  is  for  us  to  enter  into  business.  Let  us 
keep  our  money  among  ourselves.  Let  us  spend  our  money 
with  each  other.  Let  us  protect  each  other  as  the  other 
races  do. 

Hvery  Negro  who  successfully  carries  on  a  business  of  his 
own,  helps  the  race  as  well  as  himself,  for  no  Negro  can  rise 
without  reflecting  honor  upon  other  Negroes.  By  Negroes 
sticking  together  and  spending  whatever  they  have  to  spend 
with  their  own  race,  soon  they  would  be  able  to  unite  and 
open  large,  up-to-date,  dry  goods,  millinery,  hardware  and 
all  other  establishments  as  run  by  their  white  brothers, 
thereby  giving  employment  to  hundreds  who  otherwise  have 
nothing  to  do.  All  the  young  people  who  are  graduating 
from  our  schools  to-day,  ca.nnot  be  schoolteachers  and  preachers. 

Of  course,  education  is  used  in  all  avocations  of  life,  but 
it  looks  like  a  loss  of  time  to  spend  a  number  of  years  in 


148  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

school,  to  do  just  what  any  common  laborer  has  to  do.  The 
Negro  has  helped  to  make  rich  every  race  on  earth  but  his 
own.  They  will  walk  three  blocks  or  more  to  trade  with  a 
white  man,  when  there  is  a  Negro  store  next  to  their  door. 
They  say  the  Negro  does  not  have  as  good  material  as  the 
white  man.  In  all  cases  that  is  not  true,  for  they  have  both 
bought  from  the  same  wholesale  grocer  and  have  the  same 
material.  If  there  is  any  difference,  give  the  advantage  to 
the  Negro,  for  he  is  doing  no  more  than  the  white  merchant 
has  done  before.  If  there  are  weak  points  in  the  race,  we 
should  help  to  make  them  strong.  It  will  be  only  by  our 
coming  together  that  we  shall  ever  succeed.  The  different 
commodities  that  are  brought  into  market  by  the  Negro  could 
be  disposed  of  with  the  Negro  merchants  and  by  bartering  as 
they  do  with  the  white  merchants,  benefit  themselves  and 
aid  the  Negro  merchant,  and  thereby  the  farmer  and  the 
grocer  would  be  building  each  other  up  and  giving  strength 
financially  to  both. 

IV.    NEGRO  BUSINESS  MEN    OF  COLUMBIA,  SOUTH   CAROLINA. 

(Paper  submitted  by  Mr.  H.  K.  Lindsay.) 

Columbia  has  a  population  of  over  twenty  thousand  people, 
half  of  these  being  colored.  The  Negroes  here,  as  in  most 
Southern  cities  and  towns,  are  well  represented  in  the  vari- 
ous mechanical  trades.  As  to  what  they  are  doing  in  busi- 
ness can  best  be  understood  from  the  following: 

We  have  about  twenty-five  grocery,  dry  goods  and  cloth- 
ing stores  in  the  city,  varying  in  size  from  the  little  subur- 
ban shop,  with  its  assortment  of  wood  and  shelf  goods,  to  the 
well-stocked  and  neatly  kept  store,  whose  only  difference 
from  other  stores  is  the  color  of  its  clerks. 

Possibly  the  business  that  represents  the  largest  outlay  of 
capital  is  conducted  by  Mr.  I.  J.  Miller,  the  clothier.  His 
store  is  located  in  the  heart  of  the  business  center  of  the  city. 
Besides  giving  his  business  his  strict  personal  attention,  he 
is  aided  by  three  clerks. 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  149 

During  last  fall  his  estimated  stock  was  $10,000  at  one 
time.  Mr.  Miller,  about  fifteen  years  ago,  commenced  this 
enterprise  with  scarcely  a  shelf  of  goods;  through  toil  and 
perseverance  he  has  succeeded  in  establishing  a  business 
that  not  only  reflects  credit  upon  himself  and  the  race,  but 
stands  comparison  with  the  most  favored  enterprise  of  its  kind 
in  the  city.  . 

The  next  I  shall  mention  is  the  well-known  merchant 
tailor,  Mr.  R.  J.  Palmer.  Mr.  Palmer,  on  account  of  his 
thorough  knowledge  of  his  business,  has  for  many  years  been 
the  recognized  leader  in  his  line.  He  occupies  his  own  build- 
ing, valued  at  eight  thousand  dollars;  it  is  located  in  one  of 
the  best  business  blocks  in  the  city. 

He  carries  in  connection  with  his  tailoring  business  a 
complete  line  of  clothing  and  gents'  furnishings — his  stock 
representing  some  thousands  of  dollars.  He  visits  the  north- 
ern markets  as  often  as  twice  a  year  to  select  his  stock. 

The  enterprise  of  which  I  have  the  honor  to  be  head  is 
younger  than  the  two  mentioned  above,  and  much  the  junior 
of  many  other  enterprises  of  the  race  here,  and  we  feel  in- 
deed gratified  at  occupying  even  third  place. 

Our  enterprise  is  a  grocery  and  provision  store,  with  one 
branch  business  at  its  old  stand,  near  the  western  suburbs. 
I  was  placed  in  charge  of  the  business  before  reaching  my 
maturity,  and  since  completing  a  normal  course  at  Allen 
University  in  1892,  I  have  devoted  my  entire  attention  to  its 
management. 

Our  beginning  was  certainly  humble.  We  opened  up  with 
a  few  dozen  canned  goods,  wood,  etc.;  our  stock  valued  at 
about  forty  dollars.  In  five  years'  time  we  made  three  addi- 
tions to  our  building,  and  out  of  a  little  shop  had  grown  a 
general  merchandise  store,  where  we  sold  from  a  paper  of 
pins  to  a  suit  of  clothes,  from  a  pound  of  bacon  to  a  barrel  of 
flour.  We  conduct  our  business  with  five  clerks  and  a  de- 
livery with  each  store. 

Some  of  the  other  enterprises  worthy  of  mention  are  Mr. 


150  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

J.  P.  Evans,  grocer,  Mrs.  Caroline  Alston,  dry  goods,  Mr. 
Richard  Bell,  grocer. 

Mr.  Evans  has  been  conducting  his  business  at  the  same 
old  stand  for  over  twenty  years.  His  patrons  are  about 
equally  divided  between  the  two  races. 

Mrs.  Caroline  Alston,  a  lady  who  conducts  a  dry  goods 
store,  has  met  with  much  success  in  her  more  than  twenty 
years'  experience  in  business,  and  enjoys  the  esteem  and 
confidence  of  the  white  race  as  well  as  her  own. 

Mr.  Richard  Bell,  a  comparatively  young  man,  has  suc- 
ceeded well  in  his  business;  and  in  point  of  neatness  and 
cleanliness  his  store  is  a  model  after  which  any  one  might 
pattern. 

We  have  one  drug  store,  Dr.  James  J.  Leggett,  a  graduate 
of  Howard  University,  in  charge;  two  harness  and  saddlery 
shops;  five  confectioners;  no  saloons;  seventeen  boot  and 
shoe  repair  shops;  six  blacksmith  and  wheelwright  shops;  two 
butchers;  three  newspapers,  with  two  job  printing  offices. 

The  Peopled  Recorder,  a  paper  published  and  edited  by 
Holmes  and  Nix,  has  a  creditable  circulation  throughout  the 
State,  and  is  the  most  influential  paper  of  the  three.  They 
have  a  creditable  job  department,  in  which  are  employed 
several  printers. 

The  next  is  the  South  Carolina  Standard. .  J.  R.  Wilson 
is  one  of  its  editors.  The  Standard  is  a  neatly  printed 
paper;  their  job  department  is  second  to  none  in  the  city,  as 
their  work  will  testify. 

The  Christian  Soldier  is  a  bright  little  paper  edited  by 
Rev.  Richard  Carrol,  founder  of  the  new  orphan  home. 

We  have  twenty  barber  shops;  the  leading  shops  are  all 
colored.  We  have  three  lawyers  and  three  physicians:  Dr. 
C.  C.  Johnson,  Dr.  C.  L.  Walton,  and  Dr.  Matilda 
Evans. 

Doctor  Evans  is  an  example  to  all  women  of  our  race  who 
are  standing  aside  and  allowing  the  men  to  monopolize  all 
the  professions.  She  has  won  many  friends  since  her  com- 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  151 

ing  to  our  city,  less  than  two  years  ago,  and  has  met  with 
constant  snccess. 

We  have  two  undertaking  establishments,  two  mattress 
manufactories,  three  tailoring  establishments.  Among  the 
carpenters  and  brickmasons  we  have  fully  a  dozen  contract- 
ors, many  of  whom  are  worthy  of  mention,  being  honest 
and  reliable,  and  have  accumulated  wealth .  Ninety  per  cent* 
of  the  carpenters  and  brickmasons  are  colored. 

Rev.  M.  G.  Johnson  represents  a  building  association  that 
does  a  majority  of  the  business  among  colored  people.  The 
above  is  but  a  partial  list  of  the  many  enterprises  among  the 
Negroes  of  Columbia. 

V.     THE    NEGRO     GROCER. 

(Paper  submitted  by  W.  O.  Murphy,  '91.) 

Were  the  questions  asked,  What  is  at  this  moment  the 
strongest  power  in  operation  for  controlling,  regulating  and 
inciting' the  actions  of  men?  What  has  most  at  its  disposal 
the  conditions  and  destinies  of  the  world?  we  must  answer 
at  once,  BUSINESS,  in  its  various  ranks  and  departments, 
of  which  commerce,  foreign  and  domestic,  is  the  most  appro- 
priate representation.  In  all  prosperous  and  advancing 
communities — advancing  in  arts,  knowledge,  literature  and 
social  refinement — BUSINESS  IS  KING. 

v  Other  influences  in  society  may  be  equally  indispensable, 
and  some  may  think  far  more  dignified,  but,  nevertheless, 
BUSINESS  IS  KING. 

The  statesman  and  the  scholar,  the  nobleman  and  the 
prince,  equally  with  the  manufacturer,  the  mechanic  and 
the  laborer,  pursue  their  several  objects  only  by  leave 
granted  and  means  furnished  by  this  potentate. 

These  facts  were  true  a  hundred  years  ago,  and  they  are 
true  to-day;  and  we  as  progressive,  up-to-date  citizens  must 
push  our  way  in  and  share  the  fruits  of  commercial  effort. 

Well  has  it  been  said  that  "man  is  the  only  animal  that 

buys  and  sells  or  exchanges  commodities  with  his  fellows. 
10 


152  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

Other  animals  make  an  attempt,  at  least,  to  do  every  other 
thing  that  men  can  do  except  trade;  and  among  them  are 
types  of  every  profession  except  the  merchant.  The  beaver, 
the  bee  and  the  bird  can  build  as  well  as  some  of  our  me- 
chanics; the  fox  surpasses  some  lawyers  in  cunning;  musi- 
cians are  content  to  be  called  nightingales  of  song;  the  tiger 
is  an  uneducated  warrior;  lions  are  the  lords  of  the  forest — but 
the  merchant  who  buys  from  one  people  to  sell  to  another 
has  no  representative  in  the  animal  creation." 

Civilization  depends  upon  the  activity  of  the  merchant, 
who  by  his  zeal  and  acumen  not  only  supplies  the  wants  of 
the  trade,  but  seeks  out  new  products  of  other  climes  and 
furnishes  a  new  market  for  commodities  more  or  less  unmar- 
ketable in  regions  where  they  are  indigenous. 

So  we  see  that  a  business  man  is  at  once  a  leader,  a  servant, 
and  a  benefactor  to  the  community,  if  he  is  a  thorough  busi- 
ness man. 

This  brings  me  to  my  subject,  "The  Negro  Grocer."  I 
do. not  know  that  I  can  be  considered  as  authority  on  this 
subject,  as  I  am  only  twenty-eight  years  old,  yet  twenty- 
seven  of  these  years  have  I  spent  in  this  business;  so  when 
I  look  backward  in  the  dim  past  it  seems,  sometimes,  that 
I  now  know  less  about  "The  Negro  Grocer"  in  particular, 
and  business  in  general,  than  when  I  was  born  a  Negro  in 
business. 

There  are  in  the  city  of  Atlanta  about  six  hundred  licensed 
grocers,  of  whom  forty-nine  are  Negroes.  It  has  been  esti- 
mated that  the  grocery  trade  of  Atlanta  amounts  to  approx- 
imately $1,000,000  per  month,  or  $250,000  per  week. 

The  population  of  Atlanta  is  placed  at  one  hundred  thou- 
sand, of  whom  forty  thousand  are  Negroes;  allowing  five  per- 
sons to  each  family  gives  us  eight  thousand  Negro  families. 
If  each  family  expends  three  dollars  per  week  for  groceries, 
and  I  think  such  is  a  fair  estimate,  we  have  twenty-four 
thousand  dollars  spent  each  week  by  Negroes  for  Negro  con- 
sumption. 


AV    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  153 

If  the  forty- nine  Negro  grocers  of  Atlanta  furnished  the 
forty  thousand  Negroes  this  $24,000  worth  of  groceries  each 
week,  every  one  of  these  faithful  forty-nine  would  have  the 
pleasure  of  receiving  over  his  counters  nearly  five  hundred 
dollars  each  week. 

You  need  not  ask  me,  Are  they  doing  it? 

In  addition  to  the  $24,000  spent  each  week  by  Negroes  for 
Negro  consumption,  a  large  sum  is  spent  daily  by  servants 
who  in  a  great  measure  are  able  to  carry  this  trade  whither 
they  will.  You  need  not  inquire,  Do  they  take  it  to  the 
Negro  grocer? 

So  much  for  the  reality.  We  all  know  that  the  Negro 
eats,  and  eats,  not  always  sumptuously,  but  certainly,  at 
times,  to  his  utmost  capacity. 

We  know  that  these  goods  are  paid  for — /'.  e.y  most  of 
them;  we  also  know  that  these  forty-nine  Negro  grocers  do  not 
sell  one-half  of  the  goods  purchased  and  consumed  by  Negroes 
in  Atlanta. 

Now  for  "the  why." 

That  is  the  problem  that  confronts  the  Negro  grocers  of 
Atlanta,  some  of  whom,  years  ago,  embarked  in  business 
with  no  capital  save  a  few  dollars,  their  honest  hearts  and 
their  necessities;  no  established  credit;  ignorant  of  most  of  the 
ordinary  rules  of  business — many  of  them  at  the  start  would 
not  have  known  an  invoice  from  a  bill  of  lading;  with  noth- 
ing to  guide  them  but  their  native  shrewdness,  and  nothing 
to  save  them  from  disaster  save  what  they  might  accumu- 
late by  the  strictest  economy. 

Yet  in  spite  of  all  these  drawbacks  some  of  the  forty-nine 
have  managed  to  establish  a  fair  credit  and  accumulate  a  few 
dollars  and  a  little  property. 

The  need  is  not  so  much  for  more  grocers,  but  for  younger 
and  more  intelligent  ones;  and  we  are  looking  to  our  schools 
for  suitable  material,  so  as  to  at  least  capture  the  $24,000 
spent  weekly  by  Negroes  for  groceries  in  Atlanta. 

It  was  this  idea  that  induced  me  to  accept  the  invitation 


154  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

to  speak  to  you  on  this  occasion.  I  thought  I  might  drop  a 
word  which  would  be  the  means  of  inducing  some  young  man 
to  make  an  earnest  attempt  to  engage  in  some  kind  of  busi- 
ness in  Atlanta  and  help  these  poor,  struggling,  hopeful 
forty -nine  Negro  grocers  capture  that  $24,000  spent  here 
each  week  by  Negroes. 

With  the  same  ambition  that  sustained  you  in  scholastic 
efforts;  with  the  same  energy  and  push  that  prompted  you 
in  your  athletic  contests;  with  the  same  pride  that  makes 
you  prize  your  degree;  with  the  same  love  that  makes  you 
boast  of  your  alma  mater;  with  the  same  economy  and  fidel- 
ity that  actuated  your  forefathers,  and  with  the  same  persist- 
ence that  controls  the  forty-nine  now  struggling  in  the 
grocery  business  in  Atlanta,  we  can  capture  our  share,  not 
only  of  the  $24,000  spent  by  Negroes,  but  we  can  have  a 
fighting  chance  for  the  $250,000  spent  by  Atlanta  citizens, 
regardless  of  their  race. 

VI.     A   NEGRO    CO-OPERATIVE   FOUNDRY. 

(Paper  submitted  by  Mr.  C.  H.  Fearn,  Manager.) 

The  Southern  Stove,  Hollow-ware  and  Foundry  Company 
was  temporarily  organized  on  the  15th  day  of  February, 
1897,  and  was  permanently  organized  and  incorporated  at 
Chattanooga,  under  the  laws  of  the  State  of  Tennessee,  on 
August  15,  1897.  Our  charter  provides  for  a  capital  stock 
of  live  thousand  dollars,  to  be  divided  into  shares  of  twenty- 
five  dollars  each,  which  are  sold  only  to  colored  people, 
either  for  cash  or. upon  monthly  payments,  but  in  no  case  is 
a  certificate  of  stock  issued  until  fully  paid  for. 

The  foundry  was  built  and  began  operations  on  a  small 
scale  on  or  about  October  27,  1897,  and  has  now  increased 
and  been  perfected,  until  we  manufacture  stoves,  hollow-ware 
of  all  kinds,  fire  grates  complete,  boiler  grate  bars,  refrigerator 
cups,  shoe  lasts  and  stands,  and  other  kinds  of  castings  gen- 
erally made  in  foundries.  We  also  do  a  repair  business 


HON.  THEO.  W.  JONES. 
Ex-Member  of  Illinois  Legislature.    Successful  Business  Man,  Chicago,  Illinois. 


THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

which  has  now  grown  until  it  has  become  a  business  that 
pays  well  and  is  one  of  our  chief  sources  of  revenue. 

The  land,  buildings,  machinery,  and  all  patterns  are  fully 
paid  for  except  part  of  the  stove  patterns,  and  these  we  are 
paying  for  in  products  of  our  foundry;  and  we  can  say  that 
we  are  virtually  free  from  debt.  Of  the  capital  stock  author- 
ized we  have  sold  $1,466  worth,  and  this  has  all  been  used 
strictly  in  equipping  the  plant;  but  this  sum  does  not  repre- 
sent now  the  worth  of  our  plant,  as  all  our  profits  have  been 
allowed  to  accumulate  and  have  been  used  in  the  business. 

By  a  unanimous  vote  at  the  various  meetings  of  the  direct- 
ors of  the  company,  it  has  been  decided  to  draw  no  dividends 
until  we  shall  have  a  fully  perfected  plant,  and  one  upon  a 
paying  basis. 

Our  stockholders,  or  the  majority  of  them,  are  active  mem- 
bers of  the  company,  and  are  men  who  are  masters  of  differ- 
ent trades  which  are  needed  to  successfully  operate  a 
foundry.  We  have  men  who  have  in  the  past  been  the  main- 
stays of  other  foundries — men  who  for  years  have  followed 
the  business  of  pattern  makers,  moulders,  cupola  tenders,  en- 
gineers, repair  workers,  stove  mounters  and  blacksmiths. 
And  we  boast  that  to-day  we  are  fully  able  to  do  work  that 
any  other  men  can  do. 

The  objects  in  forming  and  operating  the  Southern  Stove, 
Hollow- ware  and  Foundry  Company  are  many.  First,  we 
believe  if  we  can  now  invest  our  capital,  together  with  our 
labor,  that  we  will  build  up  a  business  that  will  in  years  to 
come  furnish  us  our  means  of  support — a  business  that  we 
can  increase  and  build  up  until  we  shall  look  on  it  with  pride 
and  have  the  satisfaction  to  know  that  we  are  the  owners  and 
masters  of  the  same. 

We  believe  that  to  solve  the  great  problems  that  confront 
us  there  is  no  better  way  for  our  race  to  attain  the  position 
it  deserves  than  to  become  masters  of  the  art  of  manufact- 
uring. If  we  as  colored  men  are  able  to  run  and  operate  the 
foundries  that  are  built  with  the  white  man's  capital,  why 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  157 

can't  we  do  the  same  with  ours?     When  other  races  see  that 

• 

we  are  able  to  become  the  masters  of  the  different  trades  and 
to  employ  our  own  capital,  direct  and  control  our  own  indus- 
tries, then  the  time  will  come  that  we  will  cease  to  be  the 
serfs,  but  we  will  be  the  brother  laborers  in  the  great  strug- 
gle of  life. 

We  believe  that  by  establishing  foundries  and  work-shops 
by  the  older  men  of  our  race,  and  the  successful  operation  of 
the  same,  that  it  will  be  to  the  betterment  of  the  young  men 
of  our  race.  They  will  follow  our  example,  and,  being  able 
to  have  a  place  to  learn  the  higher  trades  and  to  invest  the 
savings  of  their  labor,  it  will  stop  the  roving  disposition  of 
our  race  and  make  them  better  citizens.  It  is  our  duty  to 
watch,  protect  and  guide  our  young  men.  It  is  our  duty  to 
establish  places  where  they  can  learn  to  be  masters  of  all 
trades . 

We  believe  it  is  our  duty  to  our  race  to  produce  as  well  as 
to  buy.  No  race  or  people  can  be  prosperous  who  always 
buy  and  never  produce.  We  must  make  if  we  expect  to  own, 
and  what  we  make  must  be  for  ourselves  instead  of  for 
others. 

There  is  no  doubt  but  what  the  South  will  be  the  work- 
shop of  the  world;  and  as  the  South  is  the  home  of  the 
colored  man,  why  can't  he  own  and  control  the  shops? 
Gentlemen,  I  tell  you  the  Southern  Stove,  Hollow-ware  and 
Foundry  Company  is  a  young  plant,  but  I  say  it  is  a  suc- 
cess. It  today  stands  out  to  the  world  as  an  evidence  that 
the  colored  man  can  manufacture.  Today  we  are  offered 
orders  that  will  take  us  months  to  complete.  We  need  more 
capital,  we  need  more  men,  and  we  can  say  to  you  that  if  we 
had  the  necessary  capital  to  operate  our  plant  as  it  should 
be,  that  we  could  do  the  rest  and  we  would  show  to  the  world 
that  the  Southern  Stove,  Hollow-ware  and  Foundry  Company 
was  an  industry  that  is  not  only  a  pride  to  our  race,  but  an 
honor  to  the  people  of  the  country  in  which  we  operate. 

We  would  be  pleased  to  have  any  one  come  and  inspect 


158     •  THE,   NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

our  plant.  It  is  a  worthy  enterprise  and%deserves  support. 
We  believe  the  time  is  not  far  distant  when  the  name  of  the 
Southern  Stove,  Hollow- ware  and  Foundry  Company  will 
adorn  the  lists  of  the  best  and  most  prosperous  manufactur- 
ing plants  of  the  United  States  of  America,  and  then,  and 
not  until  then,  will  the  object  of  this  institution  be  attained. 

VII.    NEGRO  BUSINESS  VENTURES  IN  ATLANTA,  GEORGIA. 

According  to  the  United  States  census  of  1890  there  were 
in  Atlanta,  Georgia,  28,117  Negroes.  At  present  there  are 
probably  from  thirty-five  to  forty  thousand.  Among  this 
population  the  class  in  sociology  of  Atlanta  University 
counted  sixty-one  business  enterprises  of  sufficient  size  to  be 
noticed.  These  were  as  follows: 

Grocery  stores 22  Undertakers •  2 

General  merchandise  stores. 5  Saloons 2 

Wood  yards 6  Tailor,  with  stock 1 

Barber  shops,  with  hired  employes  Drug  store 1 

and  over  $300  invested 6  Creamery 1 

Meat  markets 7  Pool  and  billiard  parlor  1 

Restaurants 2  Loan  and  investment  company 1 

Blacksmiths  and  wheelwrights,  with  Carriage  and  wagon  builder :....  1 

stock 2  Real  estate  dealer 1 

Total 61 

There  are  some  of  the  above  that  combine  several  busi- 
nesses— e.g.,  one  of  the  grocery  stores  has  a  meat  market, 
in  connection;  two  others  have  wood  yards;  one  a  coal  and 
wood  yard;  and  one  combines  a  grocery,  restaurant,  wood 
and  coal  yard  and  a  meat  market.  In  one  of  the  above  men- 
tioned wood  yards,  coal  is  also  sold;  in  another  there  is  a 
restaurant. 

The  capital  invested  in  these  enterprises  is  as  follows: 

GROCERY  STORES. 

CAPITA!,.  NUMBER  OF  STORES.  CAPlTAI,.  NUMBER  OF  STORES. 

$100  1  $    500  6 

150  1  600  1 

200  2  800  4 

250  2  1,000  2 

300  1  1,275  1 

400  1  _ 

Total 22 

Total  capital  invested $11,925 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  159 

OTHER   ENTERPRISES. 


BUSINESS. 

AMOUNTS   INVESTED. 

TOTAL. 

General  merchandise  
Wood  yard  

$3,800 
600 
3,000 
500 
500 
7,000 
800 
1,500 
200 
1,900 
300 
1,600 

$2,000 
500 
2,500 
200 
125 
6,000 
600 
1,200 

$1,000 
400 
2,000 
150 

$    500 
200 
1,800 
80 

$    500 
150 
400 
76 

$  

$  ... 

$  7,800 
1,800 
10,000 
1,110 
625 
13,000 
1,400 
2,700 
200 
1,900 
300 
1,600 
4,000 
900 
6,000 

50 
300 
75 

Barber  shop  

Meat  market    ....          .  .  . 

30 

Restaurant  

Undertaker        

Blacksmith  

Saloon 

Tailor  

Drug  store  

Creamery  

Pool  room  

Investment  company  

4,000 

Carriage  builder  

900 
5,000 

Real  estate  

Total $52,335 


This  makes  a  total  investment  of  $64,260  in  all  busi- 
nesses. 

At  present  three  firms  have  an  investment  of  $5,000  and 
over;  four  between  $2,500  and  $5,000;  eleven  from  $1,000  to 
$2,500;  twenty  from  $500  to  $1,000;  and  twenty-three  under 
$500. 

The  number  of  years  in  business  is  as  follows: 

YEARS   IN    BUSINESS. 


BUSINESS. 

UNDER 

1  YR. 

1-3 

YRS. 

3-5 

YRS. 

5-7 

YRS. 

7-10 

YRS. 

10-12 

YRS. 

12-15 

YRS. 

15-18 

YRS. 

20-25 

YRS. 

25-30 

YRS. 

Grocery, 

1 

1 

2 

3 

2 

5 

3 

2 

1 

2 

1 

1 

1 

Wood  yard, 

2 

1 

1 

1 

Barber  shop, 

1 

1 

2 

1 

1 

Meat  market 

1 

1 

1 

2 

2 

Restaurant, 

1 

1 

Undertaker, 

1 

1 

Blacksmith, 

1 

1 

Saloon 

1 

1 

Tailor, 

1 

Drug  store, 

1 

Creamery, 

1 

Pool  room, 

1 

Inves'nt  co  , 

1 

Car'ge  bldr  , 

1 

Real  estate, 

1 

Total, 

2 

8 

8 

7 

7 

10 

8 

2 

4 

2 

160 


THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 


The  oldest  business  is  a  general  merchandise  establish- 
ment, twenty-nine  years  old;  next  comes  a  grocery,  twenty- 
five  years  old,  and  two  groceries  and  a  barber  shop,  each 
twenty  years  old. 

A  comparison  of  the  years  in  business  and  the  invested 
capital  is  of  interest: 


UNDER  $500. 

$500-1,000. 

$1,000-2,500. 

$2,500-5,000. 

$5,000-OVER. 

UNDER 
3  Years. 

6 

2 

2 

. 

3-5 

3 

4 

2 

5-10 

5 

8 

1 

10-15 

3 

5 

5 

3 

15-20 

1 

2 

20-30 

2 

1 

2 

1 



The  general  merchandise  store,  which  is  twenty-nine  years 
old,  has  $1,000  invested;  the  grocery  store,  which  is  twenty- 
five  years  old,  has  the  same  amount  invested;  contrasting 
with  these  is  a  grocery  with  the  same  investment,  three 
years  old.  The  two  twenty-year-old  groceries  have,  respect- 
ively, $400  and  $500  invested;  the  general  merchandise 
store,  which  has  the  largest  investment,  $3,800,  is  fifteen 
years  old.  The  undertaking  firm,  with  $7,000  invested,  has 
been  in  operation  fourteen  years,  while  the  $6,000  firm  has 
been  running  ten  years.  Thus  we  can  see  that  in  the  main 
there  has  been  a  growth  in  capital,  due  to  the  saving  of  profits; 
at  the  same  time  there  are  a  number  of  old  shops  which  show 
no  growth,  but  continue  to  live,  and  there  is  also  evidence 
of  ability  to  begin  new  businesses  with  some  considerable 
capital. 

Nearly  all  these  investments  have  grown  from  very 
small  beginnings,  as,  for  instance: 


Drug  store, 

Restaurant, 

Grocer, 

Tailor, 

Undertaker, 


CAPITAL  AT  START. 
$900 
50      " 
150 
75 
0 


CAPITAL  AT   PRESENT. 

$1,900 

500 

600 

200 

7,000 


PROF.  R.  T.  GREENER. 
Consul  to  Vladivostok,  Russia. 


162  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION. 

The  next  question  is  as  to  the  manner  in  which  these 
establishments  are  conducted,  and  their  special  advantages 
and  disadvantages.  Most  of  them  must,  of  course,  depend 
primarily  on  Negro  patronage.  Of  twenty-five  firms  espe- 
cially studied  in  1898,  none  depended  wholly  on  white  trade; 
nine  had  considerable  white  patronage,  and  two  some  white 
trade;  the  rest  depended  wholly  on  Negro  trade.  Much  de- 
pends naturally  on  the  character  of  the  business;  a  drug 
store  would  get  white  trade  only  by  chance  or  in  an  emer- 
gency; a  grocery  store  might  get  a  little  transient  white  pat- 
ronage now  and  then;  wood  yard  might  get  trade  of  both  races; 
restaurants  and  barber  shops  must  draw  the  color-line  without 
exception  and  either  serve  all  whites  or  all  Negroes;  under- 
takers can  serve  Negroes  only.  All  these  considerations 
make,  of  course,  a  vast  difference  between  white  and  Negro 
business  men.  A  Negro  undertaker  in  Atlanta  is  in  a  city 
of  35,000  people,  chiefly  of  the  laboring  class;  a  white  under- 
taker has  a  constituency  of,  perhaps,  80,000,  largely  well-to- 
do  merchants  and  artisans.  The  white  grocer  has  not  only 
the  advantage  of  training  and  capital,  but  also  of  a  constit- 
uency three  times  as  large  and  ten  times  as  rich  as  his 
Negro  competitor.  Moreover,  seventy-five  per  cent  of  the 
Negro  firms  are  compelled  by  custom  to  do  business  largely 
on  a  credit  basis,  and,  too,  have  fewer  means  of  compelling 
payment.  Finally,  the  Negro  merchants,  as  a  class,  are 
poorly  trained  for  the  work.  The  twenty-five  studied  in  1898 
were  educated  as  follows: 

College  training 1 

Common  school  education 9 

Read  and  write  only 12 

No  education  ..  .     3 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  NEGRO  IN  BUSINESS. 

(CONTINUED.) 

IT  IS  hardly  possible  to  place  too  great  stress  on  the  deep 
significance  of  business  ventures  among  American  Ne- 
groes. Physical  emancipation  came  in  1863,  but  economic 
emancipation  is  still  a  long  way  off.  The  great  majority  of 
Negroes  are  still  serfs  bound  to  the  soil,  or  house-servants. 
Emancipation,  in  striking  off  their  shackles,  set  them  adrift 
penniless.  It  would  not  have  been  wonderful  or  unprece- 
dented if  the  Freedman  had  sunk  into  sluggish  laziness, 
ignorance  and  crime  after  the  war.  That  he  did  not 
wholly,  is  due  to  his  own  vigor  and  ambition  and  the  cru- 
sade of  education  from  the  North.  What  have  these  efforts, 
seconded  by  the  common  school  and,  to  a  limited  extent,  the 
college,  been  able  to  accomplish  in  the  line  of  making  the 
Freedman  a  factor  in  the  economic  re-birth  of  the  South? 

Of  the  various  answers  that  might  be  made  to  this  question, 
none  is  more  interesting  than  that  which  shows  the  extent  to 
which  the  Negro  is  engaging  in  the  various  branches  of  bus- 
iness. Naturally  business,  of  all  vocations,  was  furthest 
removed  from  slavery.  Even  the  ante-bellum  plantation 
owner  was  hardly  a  good  business  man,  and  his  slaves  were 
at  best  careless  sharers  in  a  monarchical  communism,  and,  at 
worst,  dumb-driven  cattle. 

For  a  Negro  then  to  go  into  business  means  a  great  deal. 
It  is,  indeed,  a  step  in  social  progress  worth  measuring.  It 
means  hard  labor,  thrift  in  saving,  a  comprehension  of  social 
movements  and  ability  to  learn  a  new  vocation — all  this  tak- 
ing place,  not  by  concerted  guided  action,  but  spontaneously 
here  and  there,  in  hamlet  and  city,  North  and  South.  To 

163 


THE    NEGRO    IX    REVELATION, 

measure  such  a  movement  is  difficult,  and  yet  worth  the 
trial.  We  need  to  know  accurately  the  different  kinds  of 
business  ventures  that  appear,  the  order  of  their  appearance, 
their  measure  of  success  and  the  capital  invested  in  them. 
We  need  to  know  what  sort  of  men  go  into  business,  how 
long  they  have  been  engaged,  and  how  they  managed  to  get 
a  start.  Finally,  we  should  know  where  this  economic 
advance  is  being  most  strongly  felt,  and  what  the  present 
tendencies  are. 

In  the  census  of  1890,  the  following  Negro  business  men 
are  returned:*  , 

Hotel  keepers 420      Grocers 1,829 

Saloonkeepers 932       Retail  merchants    unspecified 4,490 

Livery  stable  keepers 390       Publishers 20 

Druggists 135 

Total - 8,216 

There  are  many  obvious  errors  in  these  returns;  the  first 
three  items  are  greatly  exaggerated,  without  doubt,  contain- 
ing many  lodging  houses  misnamed  "hotels;"  employes  in 
saloons  erroneously  returned  as  "saloon  keepers;"  and  host- 
lers returned  as  "livery  stable  keepers."  The  unspecified 
retail  merchants  also  probably  include  some  clerks,  hucksters 
and  restaurant  keepers.  With  some  allowances  for  these 
errors,  it  is  probable  that  there  are  in  the  United  States  at 
least  5,000  Negro  business  men.  Of  these  the  following 
study  has  returns  from  something  less  than  one-half,  living 
in  thirty  different  States  and  Territories,  as  follows: 

TABLE  No.  1.     NEGRO   BUSINESS  MEN  BY  STATES. 

Alabama 136  Illinois 23 

Arkansas 94  Kansas 30 

California 43  Kentucky 72 

Colorado 8  Louisiana 11 

Delaware  16  Massachusetts 14 

District  of  Columbia 50  Maryland 49 

Florida 78  Mississippi 78 

Georgia '..  324  Missouri 49 

Indiana 4  New  Jersey 36 

Indian  Territory 7  New  York 80 


'  Eleventh  Census,  Population,  Vol.  II,  pp.  355,  ff. 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  -  165 

TABLE  No.  1.     NEGRO  BUSINESS  MEN  BY  STATES— CONTINUED. 

North  Carolina 98  Tennessee 131 

Ohio 14  Texas 159 

Oklahoma 7  Virginia 105 

Pennsylvania. — 47  Washington 10 

South  Carolina 123  West  Virginia 9 

Total 1,906 

Condensing  this  table  we  have  reported  from 

The  North,  east  of  the  Mississippi    218      West  of  the  Mississippi 407 

The  South,  east  of  the  Mississippi  1,281 

Total 1,906 

The  value  of  this  comparison  is  somewhat  spoiled  by  the 
fact  that  the  Negroes  in  the  States  of  Georgia  and  Alabama 
and  the  middle  South  were  more  thoroughly  canvassed  than 
those  in  other  parts  of  the  country,  since  the  Conference  had 
more  correspondents  there.  Nevertheless,  it  is  clear  that  it 
is  density  of  Negro  population  in  the  main  that  gives  the 
Negro  business  man  his  best  chance. 

There  were,  of  course,  wide  gaps  and  large  omissions  in 
such  an  inquiry.  Small  towns  in  considerable  numbers,  and 
country  stores,  were  not  returned,  and  many  minor  enter- 
prises in  larger  towns.  Of  the  large  cities,  the  most  import- 
ant omission  was  the  city  of  New  Orleans.  With  the  latter 
exception  it  would  seem,  after  careful  inquiry,  that  the  re- 
turns represent  fully  seventy-five  per  cent,  of  the  more  import- 
ant business  enterprises  among  Negroes,  and  consequently 
give  a  fair  picture  of  their  economic  advance  in  this  line. 

The  term  "business  man"  in  this  study  has  been  inter- 
preted to  include  all  with  stocks  of  goods  to  sell,  and  also  all 
other  persons  who  have  at  least  $500  of  capital  invested;  for 
instance,  while  the  ordinary  barber  should  be  classed  as  an 
artisan,  a  man  with  $500  or  more  invested  in  a  shop,  with 
several  hired  assistants,  is  a  capitalist  rather  than  an  artisan, 
and  one  hundred  and  sixty-two  such  men  have  been  classed 
as  business  men.  So,  too,  it  seemed  best  to  include  thirty- 
one  blacksmiths  and  wheelwrights  who  had  considerable 
capital  invested  and  kept  stocks  of  wagons  or  other  goods  on 


166 


THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 


sale.  In  several  other  cases  there  was  some  difficulty  in 
drawing  a  line  between  artisans  and  business  men,  and  the 
decision  had  to  be  more  or  less  arbitrary,  although  the  invest- 
ment of  considerable  capital  directly  in  the  business  was  the 
usual  criterion. 

The  different  kinds  of  business  reported  were  as  follows: 

TABLE  No.  2.     NEGRO  BUSINESS  MEN,  ACCORDING  TO  OCCUPATION. 


Grocers 432 

General  merchandise  dealers 166 

Barbers  with    $500  or  more   in- 
vested    162 

Publishers  and  job  printers 89 

Undertakers 80 

Saloon  keepers 68 

Druggists 64 

Restaurant  keepers 61 

Hackmen  and  expressmen,  own- 
ing outfits 53 

Builders  .and  contractors 48 

Dealers  in  meat 47 

Merchant  tailors 40 

Dealers  in  fuel 27 

Dealers  in  real  estate 36 

Wagon  makers  and  blacksmiths..  32 

Hotels 30 

Green  grocers,  dairymen,  etc 30 

Livery  stable  keepers 26 

Confectioners _ 25 

Caterers 24 

Plumbing,  tinware  and  hardware 

shops 17 

Shoe  dealers  and  repairers 17 

Fish  dealers 15 

Furniture  dealers 13 

Building  and  loan  associations....  13 

Jewelers  _ 11 

Market  gardeners  and  planters....  11 

Clothing  dealers 10 

Wall  paper  and  paint  shops 10 

Bakers,  with  shops 10 

Dry  goods  dealers 9 

Cotton  gin  proprietors 9 

Steam  laundries 8 

Proprietors  of  machine  shcps 8 

Miscellaneous,  undesignated 


Cigar  manufacturers 8 

Photographers 8 

Brokers  and  money  lenders 8 

Dealers  in  feed 7 

Dealers  in  fruit 6 

Milliners 5 

Banks 4 

Second-hand  stores 4 

Harness  shops 4 

Employment  agencies 4 

Florists  4 

Crockery  stores 4 

Carpet  cleaning  works „ 4 

Upholstering  shops 3 

Hair  goods  stores 3 

Lumber  mills 3 

Cleaning  and  dyeing  shops 3 

Brick  contractors 3 

Dealers  in  cotton 3 

Ice-cream  depots 2 

Wire  goods  manufacturers 2 

Dressmaking  shops 2 

Private  cemeteries..... 2 

Bicycle  stores 2 

Mechanics  with  shops 2 

Shirt  factory 1 

Toilet  supply  shop 1 

Broom  manufactory 1 

Cotton  mill 1 

Assembly  hall 1 

Naval  stores  dealer 1 

School  of  music 1 

Fan  manufactory 1 

Carpet  manufactory 1 

Handle  factory 1 

Rubber  goods  shop 1 

Book  store 1 

82 


Total ....1.906 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  167 

It  must  be  remembered  in  scanning  these  figures,  that  on 
most  lines  of  business  here  reported,  only  establishments  of 
considerable  size  and  success  have  been  reported.  There  are, 
for  instance,  large  numbers  of  ice-cream  dealers,  pool  rooms, 
cleaning  and  dyeing  shops,  employment  agencies,  and  the 
like  among  Negroes;  most  of  these,  however,  are  small  and 
short-lived,  and  only  a  few  well-established  businesses  in  these 
lines  have  been  reported.  Again,  under  the  method  em- 
ployed in  gathering  these  facts,  it  is  hardly  possible  that  the 
real  proportion  between  the  different  kinds  of  business  is 
correctly  pictured,  and  there  are  doubtless  large  omissions 
here  and  there. 

Perhaps  the  most  instructive  way  of  studying  these  busi- 
nesses would  be  in  the  light  of  their  historic  evolution  from 
the  past  economic  condition  of  the  Negro.  For  example,  it 
is  easy  to  see  how  the  barber,  the  caterer  and  the  restaurant 
keeper  were  the  direct  economic  progeny  of  the  house-serv- 
ant, just  as  the  market  gardener,  the  saw-mill  proprietor  and 
the  florist  were  descended  from  the  field-hand.  We  may,  in- 
deed, divide  the  business  men  in  the  above  table  as  follows: 

(a)  HOUSE-SERVANT  CLASS. — Barbers,  restaurant  keep- 
ers, expressmen,  butchers,  caterers,  liverymen,  bakers,  milli- 
ners, etc. — 162. 

(£)  FIELD-HAND  CLASS. — Market  gardeners,  green  gro- 
cers, dairymen,  cotton-gin  owners,  florists,  lumber-mill 
owners,  etc. — 61. 

(c)  PLANTATION  MECHANIC  CLASS. — Builders  and  con- 
tractors,  blacksmiths,  brickmakers,  jewelers,    shoe  dealers 
and  repairers,  machinists,  cigar  manufacturers,  tinners,  paper 
hangers  and  painters,  harness  dealers,  upholsterers,  etc. — 
176. 

(d)  THE    TRADERS. — Grocers,   general   merchants   and 
dealers  in  fuel,  fish,  clothing,  furniture,   feed,  dry  goods, 
second-hand  dealers — 695,, 

(e)  THE  CAPITALISTS. — Bankers,    real   estate   dealers, 

money  lenders,  building  and  loan  associations,  etc  — 67. 
11 


168  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION,      • 

(/)  THE  MANUFACTURERS. — Makers  of  shirts,  brooms, 
fans,  carpets,  handles,  rubber  goods  and  the  cotton  mill — 9. 

Or)  CO-OPERATIVE  EFFORTS. — Undertakers,  druggists, 
publishers,  cemeteries,  printers,  etc. — 189. 

(h)  EFFORTS  FOR  AMUSEMENT. — Saloons,  pool  rooms, 
photographers,  bicycle  dealers,  etc. — 101. 

No  economic  development  is  altogether  accidental— pre- 
vious occupation,  enforced  co-operation,  the  natural  instinct 
to  barter,  and  the  efforts  for  recreation,  explain  among  Amer- 
ican Negroes,  as  among  other  people,  their  present  occupa- 
tions. Let  us  take  up  the  classes  in  order  as  indicated  above. 

It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  the  aristocracy  of  the  planta- 
tion slaves  were  the  house-servants — those  who,  for  appear- 
ance, ability  and  intelligence,  were  selected  from  the  mass 
of  the  slaves  to  perform  household  duties  at  the  master's 
house.  Often  such  servants  were  educated  and  skillful,  and 
at  all  times  they  were  the  class  which,  when  emancipation 
came,  made  the  first  steps  toward  independent  livelihood. 
The  master's  valet  set  up  his  barber  shop  in  town,  and  soon 
had  a  lucrative  trade;  the  cook  became  proprietor  of  a  small 
eating  stand  or  restaurant,  or,  if  he  was  exceptionally  effi- 
cient and  noted  for  certain  dishes,  he  became  a  caterer.  It 
was  in  this  way  that  the  famous  guild  of  black  caterers  arose 
in  Philadelphia.  In  similar  ways,  but  more  slowly,  a  little 
saving  of  capital  transformed  the  driver  into  the  express- 
man, the  coachman  into  the  livery  stable  keeper,  the  laundress 
into  the  proprietress  of  a  public  laundry.  The  most  suc- 
cessful of  these  ventures  hitherto  have  been  those  of  the 
barber,  the  restaurant-keeper,  the  caterer  and  the  express- 
man. There  were  in  1890  some  17,480  Negro  barbers 
reported.  Most  of  these  were  journeymen  working  for 
wages;  the  rest  were  largely  proprietors  of  small  shops, 
either  entirely  without  assistants,  or  with  one  helper  on  Sat- 
urday nights.  Neither  of  these  classes  would  come  under 
consideration  here.  There  are,  however,  a  number  of  bar- 
bers, one  hundred  and  sixty- two  of  whom  are  reported  here, 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  169 

and  whose  actual  number  may  be  three  hundred  or  more, 
who  are  really  business  men.  They  own  large,  elegant 
shops  with  costly  furniture,  hire  from  three  to  eight  assist- 
ants and  do  a  lucrative  business.  The  one  hundred  and 
sixty-two  reported  have  nearly  $200,000  capital  invested,  as 
follows: 

Having  investment  of  $  500  to  $1,000 60 

"  "  1,000  to  2,500 63 

"  "  2,500  to  5,000 12 

"  "  5,000  to  10,000 3 

Others,  over  $500 : 24 

Of  the  restaurant  keepers  nineteen  had  from  $1,000  to 
$2,500  invested,  and  twelve  from  $2,500  to  $5,000;  fourteen 
had  from  $500  to  $1,000.  The  caterers,  as  a  class,  are  well- 
to-do  men  of  intelligence.  It  is  difficult  .to  discriminate  in 
these  cases  between  their  capital  and  their  accumulated 
wealth.  Their  reported  capital  is: 

Having  investment  of  $    100  to  $    500 1 

500  to    1,000 1 

1,000  to    2,500 5 

2,500  to    6,000 5 

5,000  to  10,000 4 

10',000  to  50,000 2 

Unknown 6 

The  expressmen  and  hackmen  have  considerable  business 
in  several  southern  cities.  The  fifty  reported  had  capital  as 
follows: 

Having  investment  of  $    500  to  f  1,000 , 8 

"  "  1,000  to      2,500 16 

«'  "  2,500  to      5,000 20 

5,000  to     10,000 9 

This  whole  class  represented  directly  after  the  war,  and  up 
to  about  ten  or  fifteen  years  ago,  the  most  prosperous  class  of 
Negroes.  The  caterers,  barbers  and  stewards  were  leaders 
in  all  social  movements  among  Negroes,  and  held  the  major 
part  of  the  accumulated  wealth.  Lately,  however,  the  class 
has  lost  ground.  The  palatial  hotel  and  large  restaurant 
have  displaced  the  individual  caterer  in  business,  both  white 
and  black;  the  cab  and  transfer  lines  are  crowding  the  single 


170  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

hackmen,  and  in  many  other  lines  of  work  the  influence  of 
aggregated  capital  has  proven  disastrous  to  the  emancipated 
house-servant.  The  barbering  business  has  fallen  into  dis- 
like among  Negroes,  partly  because  it  had  so  long  the 
stigma  of  race  attached  and  nearly  all  barbers  were  Negroes, 
and  especially  because  the  Negro  barber  was  compelled  to 
draw  the  color-line. 

The  great  mass  of  the  slaves  were  field-hands  driven  to 
the  most  unskilled  kinds  of  agriculture.  This,  today, 
forms  the  great  unrisen  horde  of  freedmen  who  swarm  in 
the  country  districts  of  the  South,  and  whose  social  develop- 
ment and  economic  emancipation  has  scarcely  begun.  In  a 
few  cases  some  of  them  own  large  plantations  and  have 
money  invested  in  cotton  gins,  plantation  stores,  market 
gardening  and  shipping  to  northern  markets.  Possibly  they 
might  be  called  business  men.  Eleven  such  are  so  denomi- 
nated in  this  study,  and  have  capital  invested  as  follows: 

Having  investment  of  $    600  to  $  1,000 1 

'«  "  1,000  to     2,500 2 

"  "  2,500  to      5,000 2 

"  "  5,000  to    10,000 4 

"  "  50,000  and  over 1 

'•  • '   Unknown 1 

Of  course  this  does  not  take  account  of  those  who  are 
simply  large  land  owners  and  farmers.  These  eleven,  and 
scores  of  others  like  them,  not  reported  in  this  query,  repre- 
sent a  sort  of  border  class — the  first  turning  of  the  field- 
hand  from  pure  agriculture  to  something  like  merchandising. 
The  green  grocers,  dairymen,  and  the  like,  have  gone  a 
step  further  and  established  market  stalls  or  stores  for  the 
sale  of  the  products  of  their  farms.  Thirty  of  these  are 
reported,  which  does  not  include  the  numerous  small  huck- 
sters: 

Having  investment  of  $     100  to  $       500 7 

"  "  600  to       1,000 « 6 

"  "  1,000  to       2,500 12 

"  "  2,500  to       5,000 3 

"  "  5,000  to     10,000 .     2 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  171 

The  other  callings  which  have  developed  logically  from 
this  class  are  few  in  number,  and  of  importance  chiefly  as  in- 
dicating tendencies.  The  three  lumber  mills  have  an  aggre- 
gate capital  of  $10,000,  and  the  four  florists,  $6,200.  Much 
future  interest  attaches  to  the  economic  development  of  the 
former  field-hand  and  present  metayer.  There  is,  as  yet,  no 
trace  of  house  industries  or  domestic  manufactures  of  any 
sort,  although  it  would  seem  that,  theoretically,  the  eco- 
nomic hope  of  the  black  South  lies  there. 

The  elite  of  the  field-hands  were  the  slave  mechanics — a 
class  which,  in  some  respects,  rivaled  the  house-servants  in 
importance.  During  slavery  they  were  the  artisans  of  the 
South,  and  although  emancipation  brought  the  severe  com- 
petition of  better  trained  mechanics,  and  complicated  the  sit- 
uation by  drawing  the  color-line,  still  Negro  mechanics 
continue  to  do  a  large  amount  of  work  in  the  South.  More- 
over, some,  by  saving  money,  have  become  capitalists  on  a 
considerable  scale;  especially  is  this  true  of  carpenters  and 
builders.  It  is  difficult  to  estimate  the  invested  capital  of  a 
contractor,  as  it  varies  so  from  job  to  job  and  from  season  to 
season.  Forty-one  contractors  are  reported,  as  follows: 

Having  investment    of  $     500  to  $  1,000 10 

"  "  1,000  to      2,500 14 

"  "  2,500  to      5,000 4 

"  ««  5,000  to    10,000 8 

"  "  10,000  to    50,000 6 

One  large  brick  maker  has  $10,000  invested.  The  tin 
shops  usually  have  small  investments,  under  $2,500.  Three 
have  over  $5,000.  The  eleven  jewelers  are  watch  and  clock 
repairers  with  small  stocks  of  goods.  They  have  sums  vary- 
ing from  $100  to  $5,000  invested.  Nearly  all  the  other  voca- 
tions mentioned  as  belonging  to  this  class  have  small  capital, 
and  are  but  a  step  removed  from  the  journeyman  mechanic. 
The  shoemaking  business  some  years  ago  had  a  consider- 
able number  of  large  enterprises  making  shoes  to  order. 
The  ready-made  machine  shoe  has  driven  all  but  a  few  of 
these  shops  out  of  business,  leaving  only  the  small  repair 


172  '    THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

shops.  A  few  of  the  older  shops,  of  which  six  are  reported, 
still  do  a  large  custom  business,  and  to  these  are  now  being 
added  regular  shoe  stores,  of  which  eleven  are  here  reported. 
The  great  industrial  schools  are  trying  to  make  these  enter- 
prises, and  the  mechanical  industries  whence  they  sprung, 
their  especial  field  of  work  and,  eventually,  their  efforts  will 
undoubtedly  bear  fruit.  As  yet  there  is,  however,  little 
trace  of  this  movement. 

So  far  we  have  considered  three  great  classes  of  business 
venture,  the  logical  origin  of  which  is  plainly  seen  in  the 
house-servant,  the  field-hand  and  the  slave  mechanic.  Of 
course  this  does  not  say  that  every  individual  green  grocer 
was  a  field-hand  before  the  war,  or  every  barber  a  house- 
servant.  It  merely  serves  as  a  rough  indication  of  a  social 
evolution,  and  is  true  when  applied  to  the  great  mass  of  the 
Negroes. 

We  now  come  to  the  traders — the  merchants  proper.  The 
African  Negro  is  a  born  trader,  and  despite  the  communism 
of  the  slave  plantation,  considerable  barter  went  on  among 
the  slaves,  and  between  them  and  the  whites.  The  Negroes, 
under  the  better  class  of  masters,  enjoyed  & peculium  earned 
by  working  overtime,  and  expended  as  they  wished.  In 
some  cases  they  owned  quite  a  little  property  and  were 
able  to  buy  their  freedom.  In  most  cases  they  merely  kept 
themselves  in  a  little  pocket  money. 

While  trade  and  property  were  not  unknown  to  slaves, 
yet  the  Negro  merchant  is  distinctly  a  post-bellum  institu- 
tion. The  Negro  grocery  and  general  merchandise  store  is 
the  direct  descendant  of  the  "store-house"  on  the  old  plan- 
tation, where  the  "rations"  were  distributed  every  Saturday 
to  the  assembled  slaves.  After  emancipation  these  "rations" 
became  "supplies"  advanced  to  the  black  tenant,  and  the 
"store-house"  developed  into  a  store  with  a  variety  of  goods. 
Finally,  merchants  outside  the  plantations  began  to  furnish 
supplies  for  the  various  plantations  round  about.  In  this 
development  the  Negro  who  had  saved  a  little  capital  was 


HON.  E.  H.   MORRIS. 
Grand  Master  Colored  Odd  Fellows  in  United  States.     Richest  Colored  Man 

in  Chicago,  Illinois. 


174  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

easily  attracted  into  the  grocery  and  general  merchandise 
business;  if  he  had  tenants  on  his  own  farm,  he  set  up  a 
little  store  to  "furnish"  them.  If  not,  he  set  up  a  little 
store  in  town  and  caught  the  transient  trade  of  farmers  and 
laborers.  In  this  way  the  business  has  spread  until  there  is 
scarcely  a  town  or  hamlet  in  the  South  which  has  not  its  Ne- 
gro grocer.  The  five  hundred  and  ninety-eight  grocers  and 
general  merchants  reported  here  form,  therefore,  only  a 
small  part  of  the  total  merchants  thus  engaged.  The  cen- 
sus of  1890,  reporting  six  thousand  three  hundred  and  nine- 
teen retail  merchants,  perhaps  approximates  the  truth. 

Combining  the  grocers  and  general  merchants,  we  find 
that  those  reported  represent  a  total  investment  of  $1,828,- 
243,  in  sums  as  follows: 

Investment  under  $    500 174  32  per  cent. 

"  of  500  to  1,000 164  30  per  cent. 

"  1,000  to  2,500 171  31  per  cent. 

2,500  to  5,000 23  \  - 

5,000  and  over 15  ) 7  ?er  cent' 

A  little  less  than  a  third  of  these  stores  are  small  shops 
with  a  few  hundred  dollars  worth  of  shelf  goods  bought  on 
credit.  Another  third  are  stores  worth  $1,000  to  $2,500,  in- 
vested in  a  considerable  variety  of  goods.  They  have  Negro 
clerks  and  usually  make  a  good  appearance.  Seven  per 
cent,  are  large  ventures.  It  is  a  question  as  to  what,  under 
present  conditions,  is  to  be  the  future  of  such  stores.  Cer- 
tainly it  would  seem  that  they  may  form  a  very  important 
field  of  enterprise  in  the  future,  especially  when  the  black 
peasant  becomes  emancipated,  and  the  present  cry  of  " Negro 
money  for  Negro  merchants"  continues  to  grow  louder. 

The  other  merchants  deal  principally  in  wood  and  coal, 
fish,  new  and  second-hand  furniture  and  clothing,  dry  goods, 
feed  and  fruit.  Taking  the  dealers  in  these  eight  articles, 
we  find  they  have  $251,994  invested,  as  follows: 

Investment  under  $    500 15 

of  500  to  1,000 17 

1,000  to  2,500 32 

2  500  to  5,000 _ 13 

5,000  and  over 14 

unknown .     8 


IN    HISTORY,     AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  175 

It  would  seem  probable  that  we  might  expect  a  consid- 
erable increase  in  these  minor  businesses  among  Negroes  in 
the  future.  The  great  drawback  is  the -little  knowledge  of 
business  methods  among  Negroes.  Their  whole  training, 
their  idealistic  temperament,  is  against  them.  Moreover,  it 
is  difficult  to  overcome  these  defects,  because  it  is  so  hard  to 
get  openings  for  Negro  youth  to  learn  business  methods. 
Even  in  the  North  how  many  firms  stand  ready  to  allow  a 
bright  black  boy  to  come  into  their  counting  rooms  and  learn 
the  difficult  technique  of  modern  commercial  life? 

It  is  a  difficult  thing  for  those  unused  to  the  notion  of 
property  to  learn  to  save.  Moreover,  the  national  crime  per- 
petrated in  the  mismanagement  of  the  Freedman's  Bank  had 
wide-spread  influence  in  discouraging  the  saving  habit.  As 
it  is  today,  there  is  not  among  all  these  millions  any  far- 
reaching  movement  to  encourage  or  facilitate  saving  except 
such  local  efforts  as  have  arisen  among  themselves.  While 
their  extravagance  and  carelessness  in  the  expenditure  of 
their  incomes  is  characteristic  of  the  race,  and  will  be  for 
some  time,  yet  there  is  some  considerable  saving  even  now, 
and  much  money  is  invested.  Land  and  houses  are  natur- 
ally favorite  investments,  and  there  are  a  number  of  real 
estate  agents.  It  is  difficult  to  separate  capital  from  accu- 
mulated wealth  in  the  case  of  many  who  live  on  the  income 
from  rents  or  buy  and  sell  real  estate  for  a  profit.  Thirty-six 
such  capitalists  have  been  reported,  with  about  $750,000  in- 
vested. There  are  four  banks — in  Washington,  D.  C.; 
Richmond,  Virginia;  and  Birmingham,  Alabama;  and  sev- 
eral large  insurance  companies  which  insure  against  sickness 
and  death,  and  collect  weekly  premiums.  There  are  a  num- 
ber of  brokers  and  money  lenders  springing  up  here  and 
there,  especially  in  cities  like  Washington,  where  there  is  a 
large  salaried  class. 

The  most  gratifying  phenomenon  is  the  spread  of  building 
and  loan  associations,  of  which  there  are  thirteen  reported: 


176  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania 3 

Washington,  D.  C 1 

Hampton,  Virginia 1 

Ocala,  Florida " 1 

Sacramento,  California 1 

Wilmington,  North  Carolina 2 

Augusta,  Georgia 1 

Little  Rock,  Arkansas 1 

Portsmouth,  Virginia 1 

Anderson,  South  Carolina 1 

There  are  probably  several  more  of  these  associations  not 
reported .  The  crying  need  of  the  future  is  more  agencies  to 
encourage  saving  among  Negroes.  Penny  savings  banks 
with  branches  in  the  country  districts,  building  and  loan  asso- 
ciations and  the  like  would  form  a  promising  field  for  philan- 
thropic effort.  The  Negroes,  themselves,  have  as  yet  too 
few  persons  trained  in  handling  and  investing  money.  They 
would,  however,  co-operate  with  others,  and  such  movements 
well-started  would  spread. 

If  the  general  training  of  the  Negro  was  unfavorable  to 
general  business  enterprise,  it  was  even  more  ill-suited  to 
imparting  the  technical  knowledge  which  the  manufacturer 
needs.  It  will,  therefore,  be  many  years  before  the  Negro 
will  enter  this  field.  Still,  there  are  even  now  some  inter- 
esting ventures  which  must  be  regarded  as  experiments. 
There  is  the  Coleman  Cotton  Mill,  spoken  of  in  the  Atlanta 
University  Publications,  No.  4.  During  the  past  year  ma- 
chinery has  been  installed,  but  the  mill  has  not  yet  started. 
The  foundry  described  among  the  contributed  papers  is  small 
but  successful,  and  looks  as  though  it  might  survive.  There 
are  several  broom  factories,  one  of  which  is  reported  here, 
and  a  number  of  minor  manufactures  which  partake  some- 
thing of  the  nature  of  handicrafts.  As  yet  there  is  little  or 
no  trace  of  house  industries.  Here  is  another  field  for  phi- 
lanthropic effort.  If,  throughout  the  South,  the  Negro 
peasant  proprietor  could  eke  out  the  scanty  earnings  of  the 
farm  by  home  manufactures,  it  would  solve  many  vexed  prob- 
lems: it  would  establish  the  country  home,  elevate  the  Ne- 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  177 

gro  womanhood  from  the  rough  work  of  the  field,  lessen 
the  temptation  to  migrate  to  cities  and  decrease  idleness 
and  crime.  Lack  of  profitable  congenial  occupation  for 
the  rising  middle  class  of  Negroes  is  the  central  economic 
problem  of  the  South  to-day,  and  house  industries  would,  in 
a  measure,  solve  it. 

Under  co-operative  effort  have  been  grouped  a  number  of 
business  ventures  whose  existence  is  due  primarily  to  the 
peculiar  environment  of  the  Negro  in  this  land.  Segregated 
as  a  social  group,  there  are  many  semi-social  functions  in 
which  the  prevailing  prejudice  makes  it  pleasanter  that  he 
should  serve  himself  if  posssble.  Undertakers,  for  instance, 
must  come  in  close  and  sympathetic  relations  with  the  family. 
This  has  led  to  Negroes  taking  up  this  branch  of  business, 
and  in  no  line  have  they  had  greater  success.  Twenty-three 
of  those  reported  had  over  $5,000  capital  invested,  and  there 
are,  in  fact,  many  more  than  this.  Probably  $500,000  is  in- 
vested by  Negroes  in  this  business.  Then,  too,  the  demand 
for  pomp  and  display  at  funerals  has  compelled  these  under- 
takers to  equip  their  establishments  unusually  well.  In 
Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  Atlanta  and  other  cities  there  are 
Negro  undertaking  establishments  equal  in  most  of  their  ap- 
pointments to  the  best  white  establishments.  The  advent  of 
the  Negro  physician  and  undertaker  naturally  called  for  the 
drug  store.  Sixty-four  drug  stores  are  reported;  forty-seven 
of  which  have  over  $1,000  invested.  They  are  especially 
popular  in  the  South  for  the  social  feature  of  the  soda  fount- 
ain and  for  their  business  partnership  with  sick  benefit  soci- 
eties. They  are  usually  neat  and  well  conducted,  and  are  a 
favorite  venture  for  young  Negro  physicians.  There  are 
many  private  cemeteries  owned  by  companies  and  societies, 
only  two  of  which  are  reported  here.  They  arose  from  the 
color-line  in  burial  and  the  poor  condition  of  the  public 
burial  grounds  for  colored  people.  Finally,  a  demand  for 
news  and  books  among  themselves  has  led  to  the  establishment 
of  many  hundred  newspapers,  of  which  over  a  hundred  still 


178  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

survive,  and  to  three  or  four  publishing  houses.  The  more 
successful  publishing  houses  are  connected  with  the  large 
Negro  church  organizations,  as  the  African  Methodist  at 
Philadelphia  and  Nashville;  the  Methodist  Zion  at  Charlotte, 
North  Carolina;  and  the  Baptist  at  Nashville.  These  pub- 
lish denominational  literature,  papers  and  books.  They  own 
four  buildings  in  all,  and  the  largest  has  a  plant  valued  at 
$15,000.  There  are  some  other  small  publishing  establish- 
ments of  no  great  importance.  The  newspapers  are  dealt 
with  in  another  place. 

These  enterprises  are  peculiar  instances  of  the  "advantage 
of  the  disadvantage" — of  the  way  in  which  a  hostile  envi- 
ronment has  forced  the  Negro  to  do  for  himself.  On  the 
whole  he  has  begun  to  supply  well  some  of  the  needs  thus 
created. 

Efforts  to  supply  the  large  social  demand  for  recreation 
and  amusement  are  a  large  part  of  the  co-operative  efforts 
noted  above.  The  Negro  church  has,  uutil  recently,  been  the 
chief  purveyor  of  amusement  to  the  mass  of  Negroes,  and  even 
now  it  supplies  by  far  the  larger  part  of  social  intercourse 
and  entertainment  for  the  masses.  At  the  same  time  there 
is  a  large  unsatisfied  demand  for  recreation  natural  to  a 
light-hearted  people  who  work  hard.  The  saloon  and  the 
pool  room  supply  a  part  of  this  demand,  and  of  the  sixty- 
eight  saloons  reported,  fifty-four  have  over  $1,000  invested. 
The  abuse  of  alcoholic  liquors  is  not  one  of  the  especial 
offenses  of  the  Negro,  and  yet  he  spends  considerable  in  this 
way,  especially  during  the  Christmas  holidays.  The  saloon 
among  these  people,  even  more  than  among  the  Irish  and 
other  city  groups,  is  a  distinct  social  center.  In  the  country 
towns  of  the  black  belt,  the  field-hands  gather  there  to 
gossip,  loaf  and  joke.  In  the  cities  a  crowd  of  jolly  fellows 
can  be  met  there  and  in  the  adjacent  pool  rooms.  Conse- 
quently, the  business  has  attracted  Negroes  with  capital,  in 
spite  of  the  fact  that,  the  Negro  church  distinctly  frowns  on 
the  vocation,  which  means  some  social  ostracism  for  the 


IN  HISTORY,  AND  IN  CITIZENSHIP.  179 

liquor  dealer.  Next  to  saloons  in  importance  come  the 
traveling  Negro  vaudeville  shows.  None  of  these  are  re- 
ported here,  for  having  no  permanent  headquarters  they 
were  difficult  to  reach;  but  there  are  known  to  be  some  three 
or  four  successful  companies  of  this  sort  traveling  about  the 
country.  Most  of  them  are  compelled  to  have  white  man- 
agers in  order  to  get  entree  into  the  theaters,  but  they  are 
largely  under  Negro  control,  and  represent  a  considerable 
investment  of  Negro  capital.  Other  caterers  to  amusements 
are  the  bicycle  dealers,  photographers  and  the  like. 

There  is  a  large  field  for  development  here,  and  for  con- 
siderable education  and  social  uplifting.  Few  people,  for 
instance,  have  stronger  dramatic  instincts  than  Negroes, 
and  yet  the  theater  is  almost  unknown  among  them.  Much 
could  be  done  to  elevate  and  enlighten  the  masses  by  a 
judicious  catering  to  their  unsatisfied  demand  for  amuse- 
ment. Here  is  a  chance  for  philanthropy  and  five  per  cent, 
for  black  and  white  capitalists. 

Compared  with  the  immense  sums  of  money  invested  in 
American  business  enterprises,  the  showing  of  the  Negro 
race  seems  very  meager;  but  when  one  considers  that  Negro 
business  has  all  grown  up  since  emancipation,  and  the 
poverty  and  lack  of  training  of  the  freedmen — they  had 
nothing  when  they  received  their  freedom — the  saving  and 
investment  by  Negroes  of  six  or  eight  millions  in  business 
enterprises,  managed  by  themselves,  is  a  very  creditable 
accomplishment.  Seventy-nine  per  cent,  of  this  investment 
is  in  sums  less  than  $2,500,  which  shows  the  popular  char- 
acter of  the  business  movement.  It  is  a  significant  fact  that 
of  the  twelve  enterprises  having  an  investment  of  $50,000 
or  over,  more  than  half  are  in  the  South. 

The  figures  here  given  deal  with  those  enterprises  only 
that  are  managed  wholly  by  Negroes.  Wealthy  Negroes, 
North  and  South,  invest  largely  in  enterprises  conducted  by 
whites,  as,  of  course,  Negro  business  ventures  have  not  yet 
reached  a  point  where  they  attract  the  capitalist. 


180  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

The  next  question  of  interest  is  how  long  the  different 
enterprises  reported  have  been  in  existence,  and  what  the 
average  age  of  each  business  venture  is. 

Of  all  the  businesses  reported,  32  per  cent,  have  been 
established  one  year  or  less;  16  per  cent,  from  one  to  three 
years;  14.7  per  cent,  from  three  to  five  years;  24.9  per  cent, 
from  five  to  ten  years;  25.9  per  cent,  from  ten  to  twenty 
years;  11.8  per  cent,  from  twenty  to  thirty  years;  3.5  per 
cent,  for  thirty  years  or  more. 

Those  enterprises  that  show  the  longest  average  estab- 
lishment (over  fifteen  years)  are  those  kinds  of  business  to- 
ward which  the  freedmen  most  naturally  turned,  viz. ,  barbers, 
caterers,  building  contractors,  market  gardeners  and  flor- 
ists. 

Next  comes  those  established  more  than  ten  and  less  than 
fifteen  years:  Real  estate  dealers,  grocers,  undertakers, 
building  and  loan  associations,  fuel  dealers,  expressmen, 
hardware,  green  grocers,  butchers,  clothiers,  bakers,  jewelers 
and  dealers  in  hair  goods.  • 

These  represent  most  of  the  successful  businesses  which 
are  enterprises  of  the  freedmen 's  sons  rather  than  the  ex- 
slaves  themselves.  Those  businesses  toward  which  capital 
has  but  recently  turned  are,  among  others:  General  mer- 
chandise, saloons,  banks  and  insurance  societies,  publishing 
houses,  newspapers,  drug  stores,  hotels,  dry  goods  stores, 
shoe  stores,  confectionery  stores,  photograph  galleries,  etc. 

Businesses  like  the  grocery  business,  conducting  restaur- 
ants, fish  dealing,  tailoring,  second-hand  stores  and  the 
like,  have  a  large  number  of  both  old  and  new  ventures. 
On  the  whole,  then,  it  may  be  said  that  the  tendency  is  to 
venture  more  and  more  boldly  into  the  purely  commercial 
lines  where  capital  and  experience  are  the  determining  fac- 
tors, and  where  a  severe  test  of  the  Negro's  ability  to  enter 
modern  competitive  business  life  will  be  made. 

A  closer  study  of  the  geographical  distribution  of  Negro 
business  is  instructive. 


PROF.  I.  GARLAND  PENN. 


182  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

Cities  having  twenty  or  more  Negro  merchants  are  as 
follows: 

Birmingham,  Alabama,  thirty- two;  Mobile,  Alabama, 
twenty-five;  Montgomery,  Alabama,  twenty;  Little  Rock, 
Arkansas,  forty-two;  Washington,  District  of  Columbia, 
forty-nine;  Atlanta,  Georgia,  fifty;  Savannah,  Georgia, 
thirty;  Macon,  Georgia,  twenty-seven;  Louisville,  Kentucky, 
thirty-five;  Baltimore,  Maryland,  thirty-one;  Vicksburg, 
Mississippi,  twenty-one;  New  York  City,  New  York,  sixty- 
three;  Wilmington,  North  Carolina,  twenty;  Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania,  forty-five;  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  fifty- 
eight;  Nashville,  Tennessee,  forty-five;  San  Antonio,  Texas, 
twenty-four;  Houston,  Texas,  thirty-seven;  Richmond,  Vir- 
ginia, twenty- eight. 

Washington,  District  of  Columbia,  is  the  capital  of  Negro 
population  of  America,  even  more  than  of  the  whites,  and 
here  in  most  directions  one  can  see  the  Negro's  best  develop- 
ment. At  the  same  time,  sharp  competition  and  lack  of 
capital  have  made  development  in  business  enterprise  here 
slow.  The  forty -nine  business  houses  have  an  investment 
of  $146,200.  There  are  two  having  $15,000  each  invested, 
four  having  $10,000  each  and  ten  having  $5,000  or  over. 

An  eleven-year-old  confectionery  store  is  a  large  and  com- 
plete establishment.  A  book  store  makes  a  specialty  of  rare 
editions  and  bindings.  One  newspaper  has  fifteen  persons 
on  its  pay-roll,  and  the  largest  hotel  has  eighteen  well-fur- 
nished bed-rooms,  dining  and  reception-rooms  and  steam 
heat. 

With  this  one  may  compare  the  situation  in  Houston, 
Texas,  in  the  far  Southwest,  where  there  are  thirty-seven 
merchants,  with  an  invested  capital  of  $309,250.  Here 
one  business,  a  real  estate  broker,  has  a  capital  of 
$75,000,  another  real  estate  dealer,  $50,000  and  a  third, 
$40,000.  One  business  has  a  capital  of  $15,000,  one  with 
$14,000,  one  with  $12,000,  two  with  $10,000  and  ten  with 
from  $5,000  to  $8,000. 


HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP. 


183 


In  Richmond,  Virginia,  there  are  two  insurance  and  bank- 
ing houses,  one  having  a  capital  of  $135,000;  the  other, 
$75,000. 

In  Kansas  City,  Kansas,  the  coal  and  wood  dealers  do  a 
business  of  $2,000  a  month,  and  the  drug  store  of  $500  a 
month.  A  hall  rents  for  $50  a  month,  and  there  is  a  daily 
paper. 

At  Griffin,  Georgia,  a  barber  has  $2,700  of  assessed 
property;  a  liveryman,  $18,000  and  a  dairy,  $6,000.  The 
last  business  is  co-operative,  and  is  managed  by  a  society. 
It  has  been  very  successful  so  far. 

From  a  border  state  comes  this  report  for  one  of  the  smaller 
cities: 

At  Lexington,  Kentucky,  there  is  a  well-conducted  drug 
store  which  keeps  the  proprietor  and  one  clerk  busy.  A 
contractor  employs  thirty  or  forty  men,  and  has  handled 
some  large  contracts,  among  others,  the  new  county  court- 
house, which  cost  $20,000.  An  agricultural  society  holds 
annual  fairs,  which  are  largely  attended.  One  of  the  under- 
takers is  very  successful  and  does  a  large  business. 

The  following  report  has  especial  interest,  as  the  town  is 
composed  entirely  of  Negroes,  and  is  governed  by  them  from 
the  mayor  down: 

NEGRO  MERCHANTS  OF  MOUND  BAYOU,  MISSISSIPPI. 


KINDS  OF  BUSINESS. 

Years   in 
Business. 

Capital 
Invested. 

Assessed 
Real   Estate. 

General  merchandise 

10 

8 
2 
8 
3 
7 
10 

85.000 
1,000 
300 
150 
750 
150 
1,000 

$  3.000 
2000 
500 
800 

Merchandise   and  ginning..  

General  merchandise        .  .          ..            

General  merchandise  

General  merchandise 

Merchandise  and  blacksmith 

800 
10,000 

Merchandise  and  saw  mill  

It  has  been  said  that  the  southern  Negro  has  made  little 
or  no  progress  since  the  war.  The  following  facts  contradict 
this  statement: 

At  Wilmington,  North  Carolina,  Negroes  hold  $500,000 

in  real  and  personal  property;  own  fifteen  churches,  five  of 
12 


184  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

which  are  worth  $90,000;  own  two  public  halls  worth  $20,000, 
and  have  four  physicians  and  four  lawyers. 

The  Negro  merchants  of  Mobile,  Alabama,  have  a  capital 
invested  of  $49,500. 

Charleston,  the  metropolis  of  South  Carolina,  has  more 
Negro  business  men  than  any  other  city,  and  the  capital  in- 
vested is  $203,500,  including  one  $100,000  truck  farm,  and 
several  other  establishments  with  more  than  $20,000  capital. 

For  a  small  place,  Americus,  Georgia,  has  a  good  repre- 
sentation of  business  men. 

At  Montgomery,  the  capital  of  Alabama,  are  a  number  of 
merchants  with  large  investments.  A  dry  goods  store,  with 
a  capital  of  $8,000,  did  a  business  of  $35,000  last  year — "a 
fine  store." 

Jacksonville,  Florida,  has  a  dry  goods  store  that  did  a 
business  of  $15,000  last  year.  It  employs  five  women  clerks. 
The  commission  merchants  do  $25,000  worth  of  business 
annually  and  employ  fifteen  clerks.  The  capacity  of  the 
lumber  mill  is  20,000  feet  a  day;  it  sells  to  northern  and 
southern  markets. 

The  few  Negro  merchants  who  live  in  the  far  West  make 
an  unusually  good  showing.  At  San  Francisco  there  are 
three  well-established  newspapers.  One  real  estate  dealer 
has  $100,000  invested.  There  is  a  fine  hair-dressing  estab- 
lishment, an  expert  electrician  and  a  restaurant  employing 
fifteen  persons.  The  total  capital  invested  is  $140,000. 

The  colored  merchants  of  Seattle,  Washington,  have 
$25,000  invested;  Cleveland,  Ohio,  $35,000;  Norfolk,  Vir- 
ginia, $30,000;  Portsmouth,  Virginia,  $35,000;  Athens, 
Georgia,  only  $2,500  invested,  which,  however,  brings  an 
average  daily  income  of  $100. 

The  extreme  Northeast  has  its  quota  of  business  enter- 
prises. In  New  Bedford,  Massachusetts,  which  was  a  center 
for  fugitive  slaves  and  refugees,  the  negro  tailor  employs  eleven 
men  and  women.  He  does  the  largest  business  in  the  city 
in  refitting  men's  and  women's  garments,  and  makes  ladies' 


REV.  W.  W.    BROWN. 
Founder  of  G.  U.  0.  of  T.  R. 


THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

tailoring  a  specialty.  The  majority  of  lady  patrons  are  of 
the  best  class  of  people.  The  largest  Negro  drug  store  is 
one  of  the  best  appointed  in  the  city,  and  is  patronized  largely 
by  the  wealthy.  It  is  prominently  located.  The  photog- 
rapher commenced  as  errand  boy,  and  eventually  bought  out 
the  leading  photographer  in  southeastern  Massachusetts. 
The  shoe  dealer  sell  shoes  and  does  a  large  repair  business. 
The  hair  store  is  the  largest  in  the  city.  The  proprietor  of 
the  second  largest  drug  store  is  also  a  large  real  estate  holder. 
Beside  these  merchants  there  are  several  conducting  business 
on  a  small  scale:  grocers,  newsdealers,  restaurant  keepers, 
clothes  cleaners,  tailors,  expressmen,  ice-cream  dealers,  etc. 

This  section  can  best  close  with  one  of  the  curious  coinci- 
dences which  the  rise  of  the  Negro  often  involves.  Not  far 
from  Jamestown,  where,  in  1619,  the  first  slaves  were  landed, 
is  Williamsburg,  the  quaint  old  capital  of  Virginia,  one  of  the 
most  picturesque  of  the  older  American  towns.  In  this  place 
the  largest  and  in  every  way  the  chief  general  store  is  a 
Negro's,  situated  on  the  main  broad  thoroughfare — the  Duke 
of  Gloucester  street — and  it  commands  the  patronage  of 
white  and  black  for  miles  around.  The  capital  invested  in 
this  store  is  $40,000. 

A  few  typical  cases  selected  from  a  list  of  some  two  hun- 
dred business  men  will  illustrate  the  success  and  difficulties 
of  this  class  of  merchants.  Says  one: 

"I  was  born  a  slave  at  Petersburg,  Virginia,  in  the  year 
1845.  My  early  surroundings  were  the  same  that  nearly  all 
the  race  at  the  South  in  those  days  had  to  face. 

After  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War  the  old  home  lost  its 
attraction  for  me.  During  part  of  '64  and  '65  I  was  em- 
ployed along  with  the  Thirteenth  Ohio  Cavalry.  In  '68  I 
came  to  Baltimore.  For  eighteen  years  I  was  engaged  in 
the  furniture  moving  business,  in  which  I  had  some  success. 
My  next  venture  was  to  open  an  upholstering  establishment 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  187 

in  the  fall  of  '84.  Desiring  a  permanent  location  I  purchased 
property,  which,  with  the  improvements  since  added,  is  now 
worth  five  thousand  dollars.  Besides  my  shop,  I  operate  a 
storage  warehouse  in  the  rear  of  my  premises.  I  was  mar- 
ried in  '74.  Have  one  son,  who  is  working  at  the  trade  with 
me.  I  regret  to  say  that  I  am  not  an  educated  man.  All 
the  time  spent  at  school  would  not  exceed  a  week.  The 
small  learning  obtained  was  picked  up  here  and  there  at  odd 
times  and  ways.  I  learned  my  trade  by  first  watching  me- 
chanics hired  to  work  for  me.  I  have  made  it  a  rule  to  profit 
by  observation. 

"I  had  but  little  capital  to  begin  with.  I  thought  it  expe- 
dient to  proceed  cautiously.  I  had  some  appreciation  of  the 
importance  of  building  up  a  reputation,  which  requires  time 
as  well  as  work.  I  made  it  my  aim  not  simply  to  get  a 
customer,  but  to  hold  him  as  long  as  possible.  I  employed 
competent  workmen  and  gave  strict  attention  to  all  the  details. 
I  planned  to  deal  on  a  cash  basis.  Work  was  paid  for 
promptly  and  bills  were  not  allowed  to  go  beyond  the  time. 
I  have  adhered  to  this  course  ever  since. 

"Considering  everything,  I  think  I  have  had  fair  success. 
I  have  been  able  to  save  some  money,  and,  besides,  I  can 
boast  of  having  obtained  creditable  footing  among  men  of 
business.  My  shop  is  never  idle.  I  do  not  regard  quick  and 
large  profits  as  always  indicative  of  success  in  business. 
The  gain  that  has  not  integrity  and  merit  to  justify  it  may 
be  looked  upon  with  suspicion.  I  have  received  considerate 
treatment  at  the  hands  of  the  white  people.  The  larger  part 
of  my  patronage  comes  from  that  source.  They  confide  in 
my  skill  and  honesty.  They  visit  my  store  and  I  am  fre- 
quently called  to  their  houses.  The  contact  is  friendly,  both 
parties  understanding  that  it  is  of  a  business  and  not  of  a 
social  character. 

* 'Negro  business  men  are  situated  pretty  much  as  are  bus- 
iness men  of  the  other  race.  What  helps  or  hinders  in  the 
one  case  has  like  effect  in  the  other  case.  We  must  study 


183  -THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

the  laws  of  business.  We  .must  demonstrate  that  we  can  be 
trusted  for  integrity  of  conduct  and  efficiency  of  service. 
Absolute  trustworthiness  will  go  farther  than  color.  Instead 
of  making  our  shops  and  stores  a  rendezvous  for  loafers,  it 
must  be  understood  that  business  only  is  in  order  during 
business  hours.  We  must  not  make  the  mistake  of  trying 
to  give  attention  to  business  one-half  the  day  and  spending 
the  remainder  in  looking  after  political  matters.  Negro 
business  men  must  have  one  aim." 

A  colored  jeweler  writes  as  follows: 

"I  was  born  on  the  island  of  Barbadoes,  British  West  In- 
dies, in  the  town  of  Bridgetown.  My  father  was  a  man  in 
fair  circumstances  and  was  enabled  to  give  his  children  some 
education  and  provide  well  for  them.  Most  West  Indian 
parents  have  their  boys  learn  some  trade  after  leaving  school, 
even  though  in  some  cases  they  take  a  profession  afterwards, 
the  object  being  to  provide  them  with  a  means  of  earning  a 
living  with  their  hands  if  they  fail  to  succeed  otherwise.  So 
to  follow  the  bent  of  my  mind — mechanics — I  was  put  ap- 
prentice to  a  watchmaker,  where  I  spent  five  years  at  the 
bench,  until  I  had  a  fair  knowledge  of  the  trade.  I  then 
came  to  this  country  in  the  spring  of  '85,  where  I  have  re- 
mained since. 

"The  popular  system  of  education  in  the  West  Indies  in  my 
time  was  private  tuition,  especially  for  primary  instruction. 
And  so  I  went  to  several  pay  schools,  and  last  to  a  public 
school ,  receiving  what  would  be  called  here  a  good  grammar 
course.  Some  reading  in  later  life  has  been  of  much  benefit 
to  me. 

"My  first  venture  was  in  Kansas  City.  About  four  months 
after  my  arrival  in  this  country  I  applied  for  work  at  some 
of  the  leading  jewelry  stores  of  the  above  city  and  found  out 
for  the  first  time  that  the  roads  to  success  in  this  country  for 
the  black  man  were  not  so  free  and  open  as  those  of  his 
brother  in  white.  So  I  worked  as  porter  for  two  years,  and 
then  encouraged  by  the  success  of  pleasing  my  friends  with 


IN   HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP,  189 

private  work  done  for  them  during  my  leisure  hours  at  my 
room,  I  bought  a  small  frame  building,  opened  a  watch  re- 
pairing shop  and  became  Kansas  City's  first  Negro  jew- 
eler. 

"With  close  attention  to  business,  by  observing  frugality, 
and  by  manifesting  a  disposition  to  please  my  patrons  with 
courteous  treatment  and  efficient  work,  I  have  succeeded,  so 
my  critics  say,  'well.'  I  had  the  misfortune  to  lose  $500 
in  a  bank  failure,  and  the  good  fortune  to  have  saved  enough 
to  be  notated  in  four  figures.  The  white  people  I  deal  with 
treat  me  well.  Those  whom  I  do  not  deal  with  do  not  molest 
me.  I  don't  know  how  they  regard  me. 

" Negro  business  men  are  helped  by  competing  with  infe- 
rior white  businesses  and  by  the  prejudice  which  some  white 
businesses  have  to  Negro  patronage.  The  average  Negro 
business  man  is  hindered  by  his  neglect  to  keep  his  business 
in  such  a  manner  as  to  invite  the  patronage  of  the  better 
class  of  white  and  black  patrons,  and  the  inability  to  find 
efficient  and  trustworthy  partners  in  a  good  business.  In 
fine,  the  envy,  distrust  and  lack  of  patronage  of  his  own  race 
greatly  hinders  the  progress  and  success  of  the  Negro  bus- 


iness man.' 


One  member  of  a  firm  of  merchant  tailors  writes: 
"I  was  born  in  Huntsville,  Alabama,  in  1876.  My 
parents  were  in  comfortable  circumstances,  and  I  led  a  typ- 
ical village  boy's  life.  My  father  was  a  brick  contractor. 
In  1894: 1  left  Huntsville,  Alabama,  and  came  to  this  city 
and  was  employed  by  Mr.  Rotholz  (white),  of  the  People's 
Tailoring  Company,  and  remained  in  his  employ  until  I 
went  in  business  for  myself.  My  partner  was  born  in 
Huntsville,  Alabama,  in  1877.  •  His  father  was  a  mattress 
maker,  and  being  quite  successful  was  then,  and  now  is,  in 
comfortable  circumstances.  He  came  to  Birmingham  one 
year  later  than  I  did  and  was  employed  by  the  same  firm, 
but  resigned  to  go  into  business  with  me. 

"I  was  educated  at  the  city  school  and  the  A.  and  M.  Col- 


190  1HE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

lege,  from  which  I  graduated,  at  Normal,  Alabama.  My 
partner  also  attended  the  same  school. 

"Having  received  excellent  training  from  my  employer,  I 
determined  to  go  in  business  for  myself,  and  after  a  consul- 
tation with  my  partner  we  started  our  business  September 
1,  1897.  We  estimate  our  btisiness  to  be  worth  $3,500. 

"Our  success  is  shown  by  the  steady  increase  of  our  bus- 
iness. Our  motto:  Never  to  promise  that  which  we  cannot 
fulfill,  has  made  itself  felt,  and  by  sticking  to  it  we  have  won 
hundreds  of  customers.  While  we  have  competition  in  the 
form  of  two  more  colored  and  fourteen  white  establishments 
I  think  we  have  no  cause  to  complain.  Competition  notwith- 
standing, we  have  a  fair  share  of  the  white  patronage.  We 
are  regarded  by  the  whites  as  respectable,  law  abiding  citi- 
zens and  first-class  tailors,  having  been  called  into  court  as 
expert  witnesses  on  cloth. 

"The  helps  and  hindrances  of  Negro  business  men  are  two 
extremes;  while  we  have  little  or  no  help  we  have  hindrances 
ten-fold.  The  business  tact  and  integrity  of  a  Negro  in 
business  is  doubted  to  such  an  extent  that  from  his  creditors 
he  gets  little  or  no  consideration  on  his  bills,  while  the 
white  competitors  have  their  own  time.  I  find  there  is  no 
outside  help  for  the  Negro  in  business;  it  is  only  his  un- 
tiring energy  and  push,  together  with  the  class  of  work 
which  he  turns  out,  that  speaks  for  him." 

A  florist  writes: 

" I  was  born  in  Anne  Arundel  county,  Maryland,  ten  miles 
from  Annapolis.  I  was  raised  on  a  farm;  my  grandfather 
and  grandmother  served  as  father  and  mother.  When  I  was 
twenty-one  years  old  I  came  to  Annapolis  and  was  employed 
by  a  doctor  to  drive  for  him  and  to  serve  as  waiter-boy. 
I  married  when  I  became  twenty-two  years  old.  I  left  the 
doctor  when  I  was  about  twenty-four  years  old  and  went  to 
work  on  the  railroad.  I  soon  stopped  working  there  and 
went  to  work  at  gardening.  Soon  after  I  went  to  work  at 
flowering. 


REV.  E.  W.  LAMPTON. 
Financial    Secretary  A.   M.  E.  Church. 


192  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

"I  went  a  little  while  to  night  school,  but  on  account  of  not 
being  able  to  hear  well  and  speak  plainly,  I  stopped  without 
securing  an  education. 

"I  was  working  for  a  white  woman  pruning  trees  and  look- 
ing after  the  garden.  One  day  I  picked  up  a  bouquet  of 
flowers  that  had  been  thrown  out  on  an  ash-pile.  I  untied 
the  seemingly  dead  flowers  and  found  a  rose-geranium  which 
seemed  to  have  a  little  life  in  it  by  its  smell,  and  I  carried  it 
home  and  planted  it.  It  lived  and  I  have  been  growing 
flowers  ever  since.  I  have  had  good  success  notwithstanding 
I  have  had  many  drawbacks.  I  am  living  off  my  flowers. 
The  whites  visit  my  place,  buy  flowers  from  me  and  speak 
kindly  of  me." 

A  co-operative  grocery  store  gives  the  following  account: 

"Four  men  were  the  prime  movers  in  the  organization  of 
our  company.  Only  two  of  these  men  could  be  called  edu- 
cated. One  was  educated  at  Selma  University,  the  other  in 
a  northern  college.  They  were  helped  some  by  their  parents, 
but  depended  mostly  on  themselves  for  their  education. 

4 'We  started  with  about  one  hundred  dollars  in  a  grocery 
business.  We  were  moved  to  organize  the  company,  which 
is  chartered,  by  talking  over  the  duty  of  the  fathers  to  open 
business  for  their  children  as  well  as  to  educate  them. 

"  We  have  good  success.  The  whites  regard  us  as  a  worthy 
business  organization.  The  wholesale  men  honor  our  orders 
right  along. 

"The  idea  is  now  becoming  general  that  the  Negro  must 
unite  and  rise,  or  remain  down.  This  is  a  great  help  to 
Negro  business.  The  crop  lien  system  is  a  great  hindrance 
to  Negro  business.  Exclusion  from  the  commercial  clubs  is 
another;  imperfection  in  the  knowledge  of  keeping  a  first- 
class  set  of  books  is  also  a  great  hindrance.  The  lack  of 
confidence  in  each  other  is  the  greatest  hindrance." 

A  dry  goods  merchant  writes: 

"I  was  born  in  Lowndes  county,  Alabama,  June  15,  1867. 
I  left  there  in  1880  and  have  been  a  citizen  of  Montgomery 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  193 

ever  since.     I  have  worked  on  a  farm,  in  a  saw  mill  and  on 
a  railroad  previous  to  engaging  in  my  present  business. 

"I  was  educated  in  the  common  schools  of  Lowndes  and  at 
a  private  night  school  since  settling  in  Montgomery. 

"After  working  for  several  years  in  the  dry  goods  business 
I  felt  that  there  was  a  good  opening  for  colored  men  along  that 
line;  so  I  left  my  employer  and  rented  a  small  store  on  one  of 
the  principal  streets.  After  paying  the  first  month's  rent  in 
advance  and  giving  notes  for  the  balance  I  found  that  I  had 
spent  one-third  of  my  capital.  The  balance  went  for  goods. 

"My  success  has  been  all  that  could  be  expected.  The 
whites  regard  me  just  as  they  do  any  other  business  man,  as 
far  as  I  am  able  to  judge. 

"The  Negro  business  man  having  once  gained  the  confi- 
dence of  the  people  will  obtain  patronage  in  direct  proportion 
to  his  business  ability." 

A  successful  lumber  merchant  writes: 

"I  was  born  in  Monmouth  county,  New  Jersey,  in  1862. 
of  parents  in  extremely  humble  circumstances.  I  attended 
public  school  about  twelve  months  of  my  life.  I  could  read 
and  write  when  I  left  school,  in  187-1.  I  had  to  work  for  a 
livelihood  and  not  attend  school.  My  father  was  a  white  man 
and  died  in  the  Civil  War  a  few  months  before  I  was  born. 
I  was  reared  on  a  farm.  I  came  to  Florida  thirteen  years 
ago.  I  did  not  have  three  dollars  in  cash  when  I  arrived 
here.  I  did  not  have  a  friend  or  acquaintance  in  this  state. 
I  hewed  cross-ties  for  ten  cents  apiece.  I  have  laid  up  no 
money.  I  have  spent  all  I  have  made  in  my  business. 
I  own  a  saw  mill  and  planing  mill,  grist  mill  and  novelty 
works,  cost  about  $6,000  (I  have  added  $1,000  this  year). 
I  own  over  one  thousand  acres  of  land,  some  improved.  I  own 
eight  mules  and  three  horses.  The  gross  earnings  of  my 
business  are  about  $25,000  per  year.  I  had  $125  in  cash 
and  had  no  experience  when  I  began. 

"I  do  not  consider  myself  educated,  only  practically;  I  ain 
my  own  shipping  clerk,  chief  engineer,  blacksmith,  book- 

13 


194  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

keeper,  solicitor  of  work  and  collector.     I  do  all  the  best  sort 
of  work.     I  learned  all  this  in  Florida. 

"I  had  $125  in  cash  and  mortgaged  my  home  for  $850, 
which  I  paid  before  it  was  due.  I  worked  for  another  com- 
pany as  foreman  in  the  woods  and  hired  my  work  done;  at 
night  I  repaired  anything  that  was  broken  during  the  day. 

"I  have  more  friends  among  the  whites  than  the  colored. 
I  sell  most  of  my  products  to  whites.  They  treat  me  well  in 
business.  I  attend  strictly  to  my  business.  I  am  plain  and 
straightforward  in  my  manners  and  treat  all  alike,  both  white 
and  colored.  In  my  mill  both  white  and  colored  are  em- 
ployed. 

"The  lack  of  capital  has  been  my  greatest  trouble.  There 
is  no  discrimination  in  my  business.  I  aim  to  equal  and 
excel  in  quality  of  work  and  material;  I  furnish  good  mate- 
rial, well  manufactured.  I  have  a  splendid  trade — at  present 
I  am  building  two  miles  of  iron  track." 

An  undertaker  writes: 

"I  was  born  in  the  city  of  Galveston,  Texas,  in  1862. 
I  followed  various  occupations.  I  came  to  New  York  at  the 
age  of  twenty  years  and  married  when  I  was  twenty-two 
years  old.  I  now  have  a  large  family.  I  worked  in  club 
houses  for  many  years  in  New  York. 

"I  had  only  a  common  school  education.  I  would  advise 
every  young  man  to  seek  for  knowledge,  as  I  find  that  very 
essential  in  any  or  every  vocation  of  life. 

"I  accumulated  a  little  money  with  the  intention  of  being 
my  own  master.  I  was  somewhat  puzzled  as  to  what  busi- 
ness I  should  select,  but  finally  made  up  my  mind  to  become 
an  undertaker.  I  went  to  an  embalming  school  and  learned 
the  art  of  embalming.  I  am  now  a  licensed  undertaker  of 
New  York  City. 

1 ' I  have  been  pretty  successful .  I  do  very  little  white  work. 
I  depend  entirely  on  the  Negro  support.  I  am  the  official 
undertaker  for  seven  societies.  I  have  been  in  business  one 
year  and  seven  months. 


IN    HISTORY,     AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  195 

"I  have  gained  the  confidence  and  respect  of  the  majority 
of  the  Negroes  in  New  York  City.  Therefore  they  and  self- 
respect  are  the  most  helpful  to  me  as  a  business  man.  The 
hindrances  are  lack  of  capital  and  education." 

A  publisher  writes  that  he  was  born  in  Maybinton,  South 
Carolina,  in  1859,  and  was  a  slave.  At  a  very  early  age  he 
worked  his  mother's  farm,  and  being  the  oldest  boy  he  was 
obliged  to  help  support  her. 

In  1870  his  family  moved  to  Columbia,  South  Carolina, 
where  he  entered  the  public  school.  He  occupied  his  time 
when  not  in  school  by  doing  jobs  of  work;  his  uncle  being  a 
member  of  the  South  Carolina  Legislature,  in  1871-2,  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  him  the  position  of  page  in  the  legislature. 
Afterward  he  worked  for  a  while  in  a  dry  goods  store  as  por- 
ter and  in  the  Columbia  Central  National  Bank  as  messen- 
ger. 

His  opportunities  for  education  were  few  and  meager,  he 
did  not  enter  school  until  he  was  eleven  years  old.  Through 
many  difficulties  he  pursued  with  zeal  the  school  training 
which  he  received.  He  had  a  great  desire  to  obtain  a  thor- 
ough education,  but  was  not  able. 

His  intense  convictions  led  him  to  support  all  movements 
designed  to  elevate  or  ameliorate  the  condition  of  his  peo- 
ple; so  he  decided  in  1894  to  go  to  work  with  pen  and  tongue 
and  arouse  the  people  to  action.  With  a  partner  therefore 
he  started  the  paper  known  as  The  Peopled  Recorder.  He 
is  also  proprietor  of  a  large  grocery  store  known  as  * '  Our 
Store,"  which  filled  a  long-felt  want  in  the  City  of  Columbia. 
This  store  was  open  for  three  years  when  it  was  moved  to 
Orangeburg,  South  Carolina. 

The  firm  is  doing  a  great  work  in  the  newspaper  business. 
The  paper  is  strictly  a  race  paper.  It  is  received  in  the 
homes  of  the  people  as  a  welcome  visitor,  and  there  are  many 
white  families  who  are  subscribers. 

The  Negro  in  business  has  many  disadvantages  to  con- 
tend against,  especially  from  the  intelligent  class  of  people 


X96  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

who  regard  themselves  as  the  "best  class"  of  Negroes.  Ex- 
perience teaches  that  the  poorer  class,  or  what  is  commonly 
called  the  "common  people,"  are  more  inclined  to  support 
race  enterprises  and  professional  men  than  the  first  class 
named.  The  Negro  business  man  scarcely  receives  any  help 
outside  of  his  race. 

The  education  of  185  Negro  business  men  was  obtained  as 
follows: 

From  institutions  of  higher  training 41 

From  public  schools  in  towns  or  cities 35 

From  public  schools  in  the  country 32 

From  grammar  schools. 15 

From  normal  schools 14 

From  night  schools 13 

From  private  instruction 9 

From  instmction  at  home 3 

With  litM^  or  no  education 23 

Total 185 

This  would  seem  to  be  a  fair  sample  of  the  training  these 
merchants  received. 

It  is  of  interest  to  know  at  what  sort  of  work  these  mer- 
chants were  engaged  when  they  saved  enough  to  enter  busi- 
ness, or  how  else  their  capital  was  obtained.  To  questions 
on  these  points  men  answered  as  follows: 

Borrowed  their  capital,  30. 

Saved  money  from  work  as  follows: 

Keeping  boarders 4  Drayman.. 2    Barber 2  Steward ....3 

Railroad  hand 1  Messenger 1     Miner 1  Teacher 5 

Lunch  counter 2  Blacksmith  ....  1     Bartender 1  Farmer 5 

Working  at  a  trade 11  Seamstress 1     Laborer 6  Clerk 4 

Government  service 2  Fruit  stand 1     Porter 5  Peddlers,  etc...  6 

The  following  sketch  of  Col.  John  McKee  shows  what  an 
intelligent  and  determined  Negro  can  do  if  he  makes  the 
most  of  himself  and  his  opportunities. 

Col.  John  McKee  was  one  of  the  richest  colored  men  in 
the  United  States.  He  was  a  Virginia  Negro,  born  free,  we 
believe,  but  without  even  a  wooden  spoon  in  his  mouth.  He 
was  apprenticed  to  a  brickmaker,  ran  away  to  work  in  a 


MAHLON  VAN  HORN. 
U.  S.  Consul   in  Danish  West  Indies. 


198  THE    NEC  KG    IN    REVELATION, 

Baltimore  confectioner's,  a  job  much  more  attractive  to  a 
boy,  but  was  caught  by  the  sheriff  and  sent  back  to  the  brick- 
yard. When  he  came  of  age  he  emigrated  to  Philadelphia, 
and  worked  in  a  livery  stable,  whence  he  graduated  into  the 
employ  of  a  restaurant  keeper.  As  became  an  industrious 
apprentice,  he  married  his  employer's  daughter,  and  carried 
on  the  business  after  his  father-in-law  retired.  He  began  to 
dabble  in  real  estate  when  still  a  young  man,  and  made  the 
bulk  of  his  fortune  out  of  it  after,  giving  up  the  restaurant 
business  in  1866. 

It  is  said  that  Colonel  McKee  owned  more  than  1,000,000 
acres  of  land  at  one  time.  At  the  time  of  his  death  he  owned 
from  three  hundred  to  four  hundred  Philadelphia  houses, 
free  and  clear,  and  the  value  of  his  estate  is  estimated  at  be- 
tween $1,500,000  and  $2,000,000.  He  was  the  founder  and 
owner  of  McKee  City  in  New  Jersey.  He  owned  coal  and 
oil  territory  in  West  Virginia  and  Kentucky  and  a  great 
tract  of  land,  more  than  20,000  acres,  in  Steuben  county, 
New  York.  In  short,  he  was  a  real  estate  operator  of  wide 
interests  and  striking  success.  He  started  with  nothing  and 
died  a  millionaire,  a  lesson  to  colored  men. 

The  number  of  well-to-do  Negroes  is  increasing  visibly. 
When  a  colored  man  once  gets  a  start  and  saves  enotigh  to 
get  interested  in  the  game,  he  is  likely  to  succeed.  In  spite 
of  many  exclusions  and  prohibitions  there  is  field  enough  for 
him.  It  cannot  be  expected,  however,  that  many  men,  white 
or  black,  will  have  the  shrewdness  and  business  judgment 
that  Col.  McKee  had. 

Another  colored  man  who  was  successful  and  achieved  dis- 
tinction in  the  line  of  industrial  effort  was  Alexander  Miles, 
who  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  city  of  Duluth,  and  was 
afterward  at  the  head  of  that  great  fraternal  organization 
The  United  Brotherhood. 

Before  the  Civil  War  there  were  several  Negro  men  in 
northern  cities  who  were  prominent  because  of  enterprise  and 
success  in  business,  of  whom  we  may  cite  in  the  single  city 


fN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  199 

of  Cincinnati,  Henry  Boyd,  builder  and  manufacturer; 
Samuel  T.  Wilcox,  grocer;  and  A.  S.  Thomas  and  J.  P. 
Ball,  daguerreotype  artists. 

The  most  advanced  thinkers  and  workers  among  the  Ne- 
groes have  been  giving  much  thought  to  the  problems  con- 
fronting the  race. 

The  following  resolutions  were  adopted  by  a  recent  confer- 
ence: 

1.  Negroes  ought  to  enter  into  business  life  in  increasing 
numbers.     The  present  disproportion  in  the  distribution  of 
Negroes  in  the  various  occupations  is  unfortunate.     It  gives 
the   race   a  one-sided   development,  unnecessarily  increases 
competition  in  certain  lines  of  industry,  and  puts  the  mass 
of  the  negro  people  out  of  sympathy  and  touch  with  the  in- 
dustrial and   mercantile   spirit  of   the  age.     Moreover  the 
growth  of  a  class  of  merchants  among  us  would  be  a  far- 
sighted  measure  of  self-defense,  and  would  make  for  wealth 
and  mutual  co-operation. 

2.  We  need  as  merchants  the  best  trained  young  men  we 
can  find.     A  college  training  ought  to  be  one  of   the  best 
preparations  for  a  broad  business  life;  and  thorough  English 
and  high  school  training  is  indispensable. 

3.  Negroes  going  into  business  should  remember  that  their 
customers  demand  courtesy,  honesty  and  careful  methods, 
and  they  should  not  expect  patronage  when  their  manner  of 
conducting  business  does  not  justify  it. 

4.  The  mass  of  the  Negroes  must  learn  to  patronize  busi- 
ness enterprises  conducted  by  their  own  race  when  it  is  pos- 
sible to  do  so.     We  must  co-operate  or  we  are  lost.     Ten 
million  people  who  join  in  intelligent  self-help  can  never  be 
long  ignored  or  mistreated. 

5.  The  business  men  reported  to  the  conference  are  to 
be  congratulated.     They   are   pioneers   in  a  great   move- 
ment, and  some  of  them  have  made  a  creditable  record.     We 
earnestly  ask  Negroes — and  especially  the  better  class  of 
thinking  Negroes — to  patronize   these   establishments  and 
encourage  them  in  every  way. 

13 


200  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

6.  The  most  advisable  work  for  the  immediate  future 
would  seem  to  be : 

(#)  Continued  agitation  in  churches,  schools  and  news- 
papers, and  by  all  other  avenues,  of  the  necessity  of  business 
careers  for  young  people. 

(b)  Increased  effort  to  encourage  saving  and  habits  of 
thrift  among  the  young  that  we  may  have  more  capital  at 
our  disposal. 

(<:)  The  organization  in  every  town  and  hamlet  where  col- 
ored people  dwell,  of  Negro.  Business  Men's  Leagues,  and 
the  gradual  federation  from  these  to  state  and  national  or- 
ganizations. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THOMAS  JEFFERSON  AND  THE  NEGRO  JULIUS  MELBOURN; 
A  REMARKABLE  INCIDENT. 

T  T  IS  well  known  that  the  great  Father  of  Democracy  was 
*  opposed  to  having  African  slavery  perpetuated  in  the 
United  States,  and  that  he  was  hopeful  of  its  early  extinction, 
even  after  it  was  recognized  by  the  constitution  of  1787.  We 
get  a  more  particular  view  of  his  position  in  this  matter, 
however,  and  of  his  opinion  of  the  Negro,  from  Julius  Mel- 
bourn's  account  of  a  conversation  among  several  eminent  gen- 
tlemen whom  he  met  at  Jefferson's  table  in  the  summer  of 
1815 — and  of  a  private  talk  he  had  with  Mr.  Jefferson  a  few 
days  before. 

The  following  statements  are  taken  from  a  work  pub- 
lished fifty-five  years  ago,  entitled  "Life  and  Opinions  of 
Julius  Melbourn,  with  Sketches  of  the  Lives  and  Characters 
of  Thomas  Jefferson,  John  Quincy  Adams,  John  Randolph 
and  several  other  Eminent  Statesmen.1*  The  work  was 
edited  and  prepared  for  the  press  by  a  member  of  congress — 
Melbourn  and  his  family  being  then  resident  in  England, 
where  they  had  been  for  about  twelve  years. 

This  man  Julius  was  born  a  slave  in  North  Carolina,  July 
4,  1790,  and  was  owned  by  a  Major  Johnson  until  he  was 
five  years  old,  when  he  was  bought  by  Mrs.  Melbourn,  a 
widow  living  in  Raleigh,  who  educated  him,  meanwhile 
(in  1806),  giving  him  his  freedom.  After  leaving  the  John- 
son family  he  came  to  be  known  as  Julius  Melbourn . 

Describing  his  appearance  he  says  :  "My  hair  is  curly, 

201 


202  THE    NEGRO    IN   REVELATION, 

or  rather  woolly,  and  my  nose  is  more  flattened  than  is  gen- 
erally the  case  with  pure-blooded  Europeans."  In  another 
place  he  said  that  indeed  "his  hair  was  kinky." 

In  July,  1815,  he  set  out  on  a  tour  northward,  meaning  to 
visit  Mr.  Jefferson  on  the  way,  and  having  a  letter  of  intro- 
duction to  him  from  a  lawyer  friend,  a  Mr.  Pendleton.  "I 
had  heard  Mr.  Jefferson  so  much  talked  of,"  he  says,  "had 
read  so  much  about  him  in  the  newspapers  and  so  much  of 
his  own  writings,  of  which  I  was  a  great  admirer,  that  my 
curiosity  to  see  that  great  man  and  converse  with  him  was 
intense." 

When  he  arrived  at  Monticello,  he  was  conducted  to  Jeffer- 
son's study,  where  he  found  him  sitting  at  a  table  covered 
with  books  and  papers.  "He  rose,"  says  Melbourn,  "when 
I  entered  and  received  me  with  great  politeness  and  apparent 
cordiality.  I  instantly  found  myself  at  perfect  ease  in  his 
presence.  Though  he  was  not,  and  I  presume  never  had 
been,  a  handsome  man,  there  was  such  strong  evidence  of 
great  intellectual  power  in  his  high  forehead  and  the  form  of 
his  face  and  head  that  I  could  not  fail  of  admiring  him.  A 
philosophical  calmness  and  a  glow  of  benevolence  were  so 
visibly  expressed  in  his  countenance  and  so  distinctly  marked 
every  feature  that  while  he  was  reading  Mr.  Pendleton 's 
letter,  and  before  he  had  uttered  a  word,  I  was  charmed  with 
him  and  loved  him  as  an  old  and  familiar  friend.  I  suppose 
that  part  of  the  letter  which  stated  that  I  was  born  a  slave 
and  was  of  African  descent  excited  his  curiosity,  for  he  im- 
mediately began  a  conversation,  evidently  with  a  view  to  as- 
certain the  strength  of  my  mind  and  to  what  degree  it  had 
been  cultivated.  He  inquired  whether  I  had  seen  the  build- 
ing then  lately  erected  for  the  University  of  Virginia,  and 
said  he  intended  it  should  be  free  for  the  instruction  of  all. 
He  expressed  his  deep  anxiety  for  the  improvement  of  the 
minds  and  the  elevation  of  the  characters  of  'our  colored 
brethren,'  as  he  was  pleased  to  call  them." 

A  long  conversation  then  ensued,  in  which  they  touched 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  203 

upon  English  and  American  literature,  and  discussed  Hume, 
Montesquieu  and  John  Adams,  in  connection  with  govern- 
ment and  human  rights,  in  which  Jefferson  expressed  the 
opinion  that  Hume  "finally  settled  down  in  the  professed  be- 
lief that  the  fitness  of  things  required  that  an  immense  ma- 
jority of  men  should  be  slaves  to  a  pitiable  minority  of  their 
brethren." 

Continuing  the  narrative,  Melbourn  says:  "I  remained  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Monticello  nearly  a  week,  and  spent  a 
portion  of  every  day  in  Mr.  Jefferson's  library,  at  his  press- 
ing invitation.  On  Tuesday  before  I  left  those  quiet  and 
philosophical  shades  I  received  a  card  from  Mr.  Jefferson, 
inviting  me  to  dine  with  him  in  company  with  a  few  friends 
the  next  day  at  4  o'clock.  I  went  to  his  house  and  found 
there  Chief -Justice  Marshall,  William  Wirt,  Samuel  Dexter, 
of  Boston,  and  Dr.  Samuel  L.  Mitchell,  of  New  York.  There 
was  also  there  another  remarkable  man  from  the  North.  It 
was  Elder  John  Leland,  who  sent  Mr.  Jefferson  the  great 
cheese.  He  was  a  Baptist  minister,  who  then  lived  in  the 
western  part  of  Massachusetts.  He  was  very  zealous,  both 
as  a  politician  and  a  sectarian.  .  .  .  The  Chief -Justice 
had  come  into  the  neighborhood  on  some  business  pertain- 
ing to  the  university,  Mr.  Wirt  was  on  his  annual  visit  to 
Mr.  Jefferson,  and  Mr.  Dexter  and  Doctor  Mitchell,  being 
on  a  tour  to  South  Carolina,  had  so  arranged  their  journey 
as  on  their  way  to  call  on  the  old  sage  at  Monticello.  I  was 
announced  as  a  young  gentleman  from  North  Carolina  who 
had  been  introduced  by  Mr.  Pendleton,  well-known  to  most 
of  the  persons  present." 

The  author  then  occupies  several  pages  in  describing  the 
gentlemen  present  and  giving  the  substance  of  their  remarks 
on  the  appointment  of  Judge  Story  to  the  Supreme  Bench, 
on  law  in  general,  on  the  conduct  of  the  New  England  States 
during  the  war  then  recently  ended,  and  on  the  relative 
powers  of  the  State  and  Federal  governments,  at  length 
touching  upon  the  danger  of  disunion.  When  this  point  was 


204  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

reached,  Melbourn  says  that  "Mr.  Dexter  remarked  that  he 
did  not  apprehend  any  danger  of  a  separation  of  the  States 
because  of  any  difference  of  opinion  as  to  the  ordinary  meas- 
ures of  government.  The  people  of  every  State  are  strongly 
attached  to  the  Union,  and  to  prevent  a  division  both  parties 
will  always  yield  a  little.  Public  opinion  will  force  leading 
politicians  into  a  compromise.  But  there  is  one  evil  from 
which  I  apprehend  that  dreadful  result — I  mean  slavery  in 
the  Southern  States  and  the  slave  representation." 

"Oh!"  said  Mr.  Jefferson,  "dismiss  your  fears  on  that 
subject.  Slavery  will  soon  be  abolished  in  all  the  States." 

"Never,"  said  Judge  Marshall;  "never  by  the  voluntary 
consent  of  the  slave-holding  States." 

"I  regret,"  replied  Mr.  Jefferson,  "that  so  attentive  an 
observer  as  you  are,  Chief -Justice,  should  entertain  such  an 
opinion.  I  well  know  that  at  the  time  American  independ- 
ence was  declared  no  member,  either  North  or  South,  expected 
that  slavery  would  continue  as  long  as  it  has." 

"I  can  well  believe  that,"  said  Mr.  Wirt,  "for  they  must 
have  felt  that  the  continuance  of  slavery  was  directly  adverse 
to  their  declaration  that  all  men  are  born  free  and  equal,"  etc. 

"But,"  said  Doctor  Mitchell,  "I  very  much  doubt  whether, 
according  to  the  laws  of  nature,  the  Africans  are  not  formed 
to  be  subject  to  the  Caucasian  race.  From  my  own  observations 
I  am  satisfied  that  nature  has  formed  an  essential  difference 
between  the  two  races,  and  much  to  the  disadvantage  of  the 
Negro  race." 

Mitchell  then  described  the  brain  and  nervous  system,  and 
pointed  out  differences  in  development,  size  and  quality  in 
the  brains  of  Negroes  and  whites,  and  intimated  that  intel- 
lectual inferiority  unfitted  the  Negro  for  freedom. 

"As  regards  personal  rights,"  said  Mr.  Jefferson,  "it 
seems  to  me  palpably  absurd  that  the  individual  rights  of 
volition  and  motion  should  depend  on  the  degree  of  intel- 
lectual power  possessed  by  the  individual.  I  should  hardly 
be  willing  to  subscribe  to  the  doctrine  that,  because  the 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  205 

Chief-Justice  has  a  stronger  mind  or  a  more  capacious  and 
better-formed  brain  than  I,  he  has  a  right  to  make  me  his 
slave."  He  then  suggested  that  different  diet,  exercise, 
climate,  occupation  and  other  circumstances  might  result  in 
making  an  immense  difference  between  even  two  white 
brothers,  and  more  marked  difference  between  the  offspring 
of  the  two.  Then  Judge  Marshall  spoke  again.  " I  do  not 
mean  to  advocate  slavery,"  he  said.  "I  wish,  from  my  soul 
I  wish  it  was  abolished;  but  when  we  count  on  political  results 
we  must  look  at  society  as  it  is.  I  do  not  found  my  opinion 
on  the  perpetuity  of  slavery  upon  the  natural  inferiority  of 
the  Negro."  He  then  adverted  to  the  fact  that  nearly  every 
man  at  the  South  who  had  any  influence  in  the  elections  was 
a  slave-holder,  and  argued  that  our  legislators  would  be 
slave-holders  or  under  the  influence  of  slave-holders>  and 
insisted  that  the  pecuniary  influence  which  would  have  to 
be  contended  with  in  an  effort  to  free  the  slaves  could  not  be 
overcome  except  by  force.  After  arguing  on  this  proposition 
for  awhile  he  remarked  to  Mr.  Jefferson: 

1  'You,  Mr.  President,  ascribe  too  much  virtue  and  benev- 
olence to  our  people  if  you  suppose  the  disposition  to  eman- 
cipate the  Negroes  is  increasing.  You  must  recollect  that  at 
the  beginning  of  the  Revolution,  Chancellor  Wythe  and 
yourself  were  deterred  from  introducing  a  bill  in  the  legis- 
lature for  the  abolition  of  slavery  because  you  became  satisfied 
that  the  time  had  not  then  come  when  the  public  mind  was 
prepared  for  the  adoption  of  that  measure;  but  you  then 
anticipated  that  it  would  soon  be  viewed  more  favorably 
by  the  community.  Your  expectations,  however,  have  not 
been  realized.  At  this  moment  I  venture  to  affirm  that  a 
bill  for  Negro  emancipation  would  meet  with  prompt  and 
indignant  condemnation.  I  repeat  that  interest,  pecuniary 
interest,  will  forever  prevent  the  emancipation  of  the  slave 
at  the  South.  I  do  not  say  that  the  slave  ought  not  to  be 
emancipated — I  say  he  will  not  be  emancipated." 

uAnd  I,"  said  Mr.  Leland,  "say  he  ought  not  to  be  eman- 


206  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

cipated.  I  do  not  predicate  iny  opinion  on  the  anatomical 
discoveries  of  Doctor  Mitchell;  but  I  think  the  Negroes  are 
the  children  of  Ham,  and,  according  to  the  Bible,  they  are 
doomed  to  be  the  servants  of  servants."  He  then  spoke  of 
his  observations,  from  which  he  drew  extreme  conclusions  as 
to  their  inferiority  and  evil  propensities.  Thereupon  Mr. 
Jefferson  said  to  him:  "I  am  happy  to  have  it  in  my  power 
at  this  moment  to  prove  to  you  and  Doctor  Mitchell,  by 
ocular  demonstration,  that  the  experience  of  one  of  you  and 
the  theory  of  the  other  have  led  you  to  erroneous  conclusions. 
Look  at  the  young  gentleman  who  sits  opposite  to  you.  Mr. 
Melbourn  was  born  a  slave  and  is  of  African  descent.  He 
was  emancipated  by  a  pious  and  benevolent  lady,  and  is  now 
a  man  of  wealth.  He  has  by  his  own  efforts  and  industry 
cultivated  and  well-improved  his  mind — a  mind  which  I 
religiously  believe,  your  missionary  observations,  friend 
Lei  and,  and  Doctor  Mitchell's  dissections  to  the  contrary 
notwithstanding,  is  of  the  first  order  of  human  intellects." 

I  was  much  embarrassed,  says  Melbourn,  at  this  compli- 
ment from  so  great  a  man  as  Mr.  Jefferson,  and  I  presume  I 
appeared  quite  awkward.  The  whole  company  gazed  on  me 
with  astonishment.  The  piercing  eye  of  the  Chief-Justice 
in  particular  was  fixed  most  intently  upon  me.  Mr.  Jefferson 
then  related  some  part  of  my  history  (for  I  had  previously 
told  him  my  story),  and  he  animadverted  with  great  severity 
on  the  treatment  I  had  received  at  Natchez  and  upon  the 
laws  which  legalized  that  treatment.  While  he  was  talking 
I  perceived  Mr.  Wirt's  countenance  several  times  redden 
with  apparent  indignation.  It  was  now  late  and  I  took  my 
leave;  but  as  I  was  retiring  Mr.  Witt  followed  me  into  the 
hall,  and,  taking  me  by  the  hand,  expressed  a  desire  to 
continue  his  acquaintance  with  me. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

AMONG  THE  SOUTHERN  PEOPLE  THE  NEGRO  FINDS 
His  BEST  FRIENDS. 

WITHOUT  entering  into  argument  to  show  that  the 
South  is  the  home  of  the  Negro,  and  that  among 
those  who  understand  him  best  he  will  find  the  best  field  in 
which  to  work  out  his  destiny,  we  present  the  series  of  papers 
which  constitute  this  chapter.  They  are  submitted  as  cor- 
roborative of  the  remark  of  Hon.  Clark  Howell,  in  his  com- 
ment on  the  character  of  Booker  T.  Washington's  speech 
before  the  Atlanta  Exposition:  "It  is  to  the  South  that  the 
Negro  must  turn  for  his  best  friends,"  etc. 

In  recognition  of  the  American  Negro  as  a  factor  in  the 
industrial  progress  of  the  South,  the  Board  of  Directors  of 
the  great  Atlanta  Exposition  of  1895  invited  Washington  to 
participate  in  the  opening  exercises,  which  he  did  in  an  ad- 
dress that  received  the  warmest  commendation  of  thoughtful 
men,  North  and  South.  As  an  indication  of  this  we  intro- 
duce the  address  with  two  letters — one  written  to  the 
speaker,  the  other  to  a  leading  New  York  paper. 

I.    LETTER  FROM   EX-PRESIDENT  CLEVELAND. 

GRAY  GABLES,  BUZZARD'S  BAY,  MASS.,  October  6,  1895. 
BOOKER  T.  WASHINGTON,  ESQ. 

My  Dear  Sir: — I  thank  you  for  sending  me  a  copy  of  your  address, 
delivered  at  the  Atlanta  Exposition,  September  18,  1895. 

I  thank  you  with  much  enthusiasm  for  making  the  address.  I 
have  read  it  with  intense  interest,  and  I  think  the  exposition  would  be 
fully  justified  if  it  did  not  do  more  than  furnish  the  opportunity  for  its 
delivery.  Your  words  cannot  fail  to  delight  and  encourage  all  who 
wish  well  for  your  race;  and  if  our  colored  fellow- citizens  do  not  from 
your  utterances  gather  new  hope  and  form  new  determinations  to  gain 
every  valuable  advantage  offered  them  by  their  citizenship,  it  will  be 
strange  indeed.  Yours  very  truly, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 
207 


208  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

II.    HON.   CLARK   HOWELL,    EDITOR   OF  THE   "ATLANTA 
CONSTITUTION,"    TO   THE    UNEW    YORK   WORLD." 

ATLANTA,  GEORGIA,  September  19,  1895. 

To  the  Editor  of  the  World: — I  do  not  exaggerate  when  I  say  that 
Prof.  Booker  T.  Washington's  address  yesterday  was  one  of  the  most 
notable  speeches,  both  as  to  character  and  the  warmth  of  its  reception, 
ever  delivered  to  a  Southern  audience.  It  was  an  epoch-making  talk, 
and  marks  distinctly  a  turning  point  in  the  progress  of  the  Negro  race, 
and  its  effect  in  bringing  about  a  perfect  understanding  between  the 
whites  and  blacks  of  the  South  will  be  immediate.  The  address  was 
a  revelation.  It  was  the  first  time  that  a  Negro  orator  had  appeared 
on  a  similar  occasion  before  a  Southern  audience. 

The  propriety  of  inviting  a  representative  of  the  Negro  race  to  par- 
ticipate in  the  opening  exercises  was  fully  discussed  a  month  ago,  when 
the  opening  program  was  being  arranged.  Some  opposition  was  mani- 
fested on  account  of  the  fear  that  public  sentiment  was  not  prepared 
for  such  an  advanced  step.  The  invitation,  however,  was  extended 
by  a  vote  of  the  Board  of  Directors,  and  the  cordial  greeting  which  the 
audience  gave  Washington's  address  shows  that  the  board  made 
no  mistake.  There  was  not  a  line  in  the  address  which  would 
have  been  changed  even  by  the  most  sensitive  of  those  who  thought 
the  invitation  to  be  imprudent.  The  whole  speech  is  a  platform  on 
which  the  whites  and  blacks  can  stand  with  full  justice  to  each  race. 

The  speech  is  a  full  vindication  from  the  mouth  of  a  representative 
Negro  of  the  doctrine  so  eloquently  advanced  by  Grady  and  those  who 
have  agreed  with  him,  that  it  is  to  the  South  that  the  Negro'  must  turn 
for  his  best  friends,  and  that  his  welfare  is  so  closely  identified  with 
the  progress  of  the  white  people  of  the  South  that  each  race  is  mutu- 
ally dependent  upon  the  other,  and  that  the  so-called  "race-problem" 
must  be  solved  in  the  development  of  the  natural  relations  growing 
out  of  the  association  between  the  whites  and  blacks  of  the  South. 

The  question  of  social  equality  is  eliminated  as  a  factor  in  the  de- 
velopment of  the  problem,  and  the  situation  is  aptly  expressed  by 
Washington  in  the  statement  that  "in  all  things  that  are  purely  social 
we  can  be  as  separate  as  fingers,  yet  one  as  the  hand  in  all  things 
essential  to  mutual  progress. ' ' 

The  speech  will  do  good,  and  the  unanimous  approval  with  which 
it  has  been  received  demonstrates  the  fact  that  it  has  already  done  good. 

CI,ARK 


E.  M.  HEWLETT. 
Harvard  Graduate.     U.  S.  Magistrate  D.  C. 


210  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

in.   MR.  WASHINGTON'S  ADDRESS. 

Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Board  of  Directors  and 
Citizens: 

One-third  of  the  population  of  the  South  is  of  the  Negro 
race.  No  enterprise  seeking  the  material,  civil  or  moral 
welfare  of  this  section  can  disregard  this  element  of  our  pop- 
ulation and  reach  the  highest  success.  I  but  convey  to  you, 
Mr.  President  and  Directors,  the  sentiment  of  the  masses  of 
my  race  when  I  say  that  in  no  way  have  the  value  and 
manhood  of  the  American  Negro  been  more  fittingly  and 
generously  recognized  than  by  the  managers  of  this  magnif- 
icent exposition  at  every  stage  of  its  progress.  It  is  a 
recognition  that  will  do  more  to  cement  the  friendship  of  the 
two  races  than  any  occurrence  since  the  dawn  of  our  freedom. 

Not  only  this,  but  the  opportunity  here  afforded  will 
awaken  among  us  a  new  era  of  industrial  progress.  Ignorant 
and  inexperienced,  it  is  not  strange  that  in  the  first  years  of 
our  new  life  we  began  at  the  top  instead  of  at  the  bottom; 
that  a  seat  in  Congress  or  the  State  Legislature  was  sought 
more  than  real  estate  or  industrial  skill;  that  the  political 
convention  or  stump  speaking  had  more  attraction  than 
starting  a  dairy  farm  or  truck  garden. 

A  ship  lost  at  sea  for  many  days  suddenly  sighted  a  friendly 
vessel.  From  the  mast  of  the  unfortunate  vessel  was  seen  a 
signal:  "Water,  water;  we  die  of  thirst!"  The  answer  from 
the  friendly  vessel  at  once  came  back:  "Cast  down  your 
bucket  where  you  are."  A  second  time  the  signal,  "Water, 
water;  send  us  water!"  ran  up  from  the  distressed  vessel,  and 
was  answered:  "Cast  down  your  bucket  where  you  are." 
And  a  third  and  fourth  signal  for  water  was  answered:  "Cast 
down  your  bucket  where  you  are."  The  captain  of  the  dis- 
tressed vessel,  at  last  heeding  the  injunction,  cast  down  his 
bucket,  and  it  came  up  full  of  fresh,  sparkling  water  from 
the  mouth  of  the  Amazon  river.  To  those  of  my  race  who 
depend  on  bettering  their  condition  in  a  foreign  land,  or  who 


IN   HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  211 

underestimate  the  importance  of  cultivating  friendly  rela- 
tions with  the  Southern  white  man,  who  is  their  next-door 
neighbor,  I  would  say:  "Cast  down  your  bucket  where  you 
are" — cast  it  down  in  making  friends  in  every  manly  way  of 
the  people  of  all  races  by  whom  we  are  surrounded. 

Cast  it  down  in  agriculture,  mechanics,  in  commerce,  in 
domestic  service,  and  in  the  professions.  And  in  this  con- 
nection it  is  well  to  bear  in  mind  that  whatever  other  sins 
the  South  may  be  called  to  bear,  when  it  conies  to  business, 
pure  and  simple,  it  is  in  the  South  that  the  Negro  is  given 
a  man's  chance  in  the  commercial  world,  and  in  nothing  is 
this  exposition  more  eloquent  than  in  emphasizing  this 
chance.  Our  greatest  danger  is,  that  in  the  great  leap  from 
slavery  to  freedom  we  may  overlook  the  fact  that  the  masses 
of  us  are  to  live  by  the  productions  of  our  hands,  and  fail  to 
keep  in  mind  that  we  shall  prosper  in  proportion  as  we  learn 
to  dignify  and  glorify  common  labor,  and  put  brains  and 
skill  into  the  common  occupations  of  life;  shall  prosper 
in  proportion  as  we  learn  to  draw  the  line  between  the  su- 
perficial and  the  substantial,  the  ornamental  gewgaws  of 
life  and  the  useful.  No  race  can  prosper  until  it  learns  that 
there  is  as  much  dignity  in  tilling  a  field  as  in  writing  a 
poem.  It  is  at  the  bottom  of  life  we  must  begin,  and  not  at 
the  top.  Nor  should  we  permit  our  grievances  to  overshadow 
our  opportunities. 

To  those  of  the  white  race  who  look  to  the  incoming  of 
those  of  foreign  birth  and  strange  tongue  and  habits  for  the 
prosperity  of  the  South,  were  I  permitted,  I  would  repeat 
what  I  say  to  my  own  race,  "Cast  down  your  bucket  where 
you  are."  Cast  it  down  among  the  eight  million  Negroes 
whose  habits  you  know,  whose  fidelity  and  love  you  have 
tested  in  days  when  to  have  proved  treacherous  meant  the 
ruin  of  your  firesides.  Cast  down  your  bucket  among  these 
people  who  have,  without  strikes  and  labor  wars,  tilled  your 
fields,  cleared  your  forests,  builded  your  railroads  and  cities, 
and  brought  forth  treasures  from  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  and 


212  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION. 

helped  make  possible  this  magnificent  representation  of  the 
progress  of  the  South.  Casting  down  your  bucket  among 
my  people,  helping  and  encouraging  them  as  you  are  doing 
on  these  grounds,  and  to  education  of  head,  hand  and  heart, 
you  will  find  that  they  will  buy  your  surplus  land,  make 
blossom  the  waste  places  in  your  fields,  and  run  your  facto- 
ries. While  doing  this,  you  can  be  sure  in  the  future,  as  in 
the  past,  that  you  and  your  families  will  be  surrounded  by  the 
most  patient,  faithful,  law-abiding  and  unresentful  people 
that  the  world  has  seen.  As  we  have  proved  our  loyalty 
to  you  in  the  past,  in  nursing  your  children,  watching  by 
the  sick  bed  of  your  mothers  and  fathers,  and  often  following 
them  with  tear-dimmed  eyes  to  their  graves,  so  in  the  future, 
in  our  humble  way,  we  shall  stand  by  you  with  a  devotion 
that  no  foreigner  can  approach,  ready  to  lay  down  our  lives, 
if  need  be,  in  defense  of  yours,  interlacing  our  industrial, 
commercial,  civil  and  religious  life  with  yours  in  a  way  that 
shall  make  the  interests  of  both  races  one.  In  all  things  that 
are  purely  social  we  can  be  as  separate  as  the  fingers,  yet 
one  as  the  hand  in  all  things  essential  to  mutual  progress. 

There  is  no  defense  or  security  for  any  of  us  except  in  the 
highest  intelligence  and  development  of  all.  If  anywhere 
there  are  efforts  tending  to  curtail  the  fullest  growth  of  the 
Negro,  let  these  efforts  be  turned  into  stimulating,  encour- 
aging and  making  him  a  most  useful  and  intelligent  citizen. 
Efforts  or  means  so  invested  will  pay  a  thousand  per  cent, 
interest.  These  efforts  will  be  twice  blessed — '  'blessing  him 
that  gives  and  him  that  takes." 

There  is  no  escape  through  law  of  God  or  man  from  the 

inevitable: 

"The  laws  of  changeless  justice  bind 

Oppressor  with  oppressed; 
And  close  as  sin  and  suffering  joined, 
We  march  to  fate  abreast. ' ' 

Nearly  sixteen  millions  of  hands  will  aid  you  in  pulling 
the  load  upwards,  or  they  will  pull  against  you  the  load 


J.  C.  DANCY,  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA. 
Recorder  of  Deeds,  D.  C. 


214  1HE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

downwards.  We  shall  constitute  one-third  and  more  of  the 
ignorance  and  crime  of  the  South,  or  one-third  its  intelligence 
and  progress;  we  shall  contribute  one-third  to  the  business 
and  industrial  prosperity  of  the  South,  or  we  shall  prove  a 
veritable  body  of  death,  stagnating,  depressing,  retarding 
every  effort  to  advance  the  body  politic. 

Gentlemen  of  the  exposition,  as  we  present  to  you  our 
humble  effort  as  an  exhibition  of  our  progress,  you  must  not 
expect  overmuch.  Starting  thirty  years  ago  with  ownership 
here  and  there  in  a  few  quilts  and  pumpkins  and  chickens, 
remember  the  path  that  has  led  from  these  to  the  invention 
and  production  of  agricultural  implements,  buggies,  steam 
engines,  newspapers,  books,  statuary,  carving,  painting,  the 
management  of  drug  stores  and  banks,  has  not  been  trodden 
without  contact  with  thorns  and  thistles. 

The  wisest  among  my  race  understand  that  the  agitation 
of  questions  of  social  equality  is  the  extremest  folly,  and 
that  progress  in  the  enjoyment  of  all  the  privileges  that  will 
come  to  us  must  be  the  result  of  severe  and  constant  struggle, 
rather  than  of  artificial  forcing.  No  race  that  h'as  anything 
to  contribute  to  the  markets  of  the  world  is  long  in  any 
degree  ostracized.  It  is  important  and  right  that  all  privi- 
leges of  the  law  be  ours,  but  it  is  vastly  more  important  that 
we  be  prepared  for  the  exercise  of  these  privileges.  The 
opportunity  to  earn  a  dollar  in  a  factory  just  now  is  worth 
infinitely  more  than  the  opportunity  to  spend  a  dollar  in  an 
opera  house. 

In  conclusion,  ....  I  pledge  that  in  your  effort  to  work 
out  the  great  and  intricate  problem  which  God  has  laid  at 
the  doors  of  the  South,  you  shall  have  at  all  times  the  pa- 
tient, sympathetic  help  of  my  race;  only  let  this  be  constantly 
in  mind,  that,  while  from  representations  in  these  buildings 
of  the  product  of  field,  of  forest,  of  mine,  of  factory,  letters 
and  art,  much  good  will  come,  yet  far  above  and  beyond 
material  benefits  will  be  that  higher  good  that,  let  us  pray 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP  215 

God,  will  come  in  a  blotting  out  of  sectional  differences  and 
racial  animosities  and  suspicions,  in  a  determination  to  ad- 
minister absolute  justice,  and  in  a  willing  obedience  among 
all  classes  to  the  mandates  of  law.  This,  coupled  with  our 
material  prosperity,  wi41  bring  into  our  blessed  South  a  new 
heaven  and  a  new  earth. 

IV.  HENRY  W.  GRADY  ON  THE  RELATIONS  OF  THE 
SOUTHERN  PEOPLE  AND  THE  NEGRO. 

In  New  York  City,  on  the  night  of  December  22,  1886, 
that  brilliant  and  broad-minded  young  Georgian,  Henry  W. 
Grady,  spoke  before  the  New  England  Society,  at  its  an- 
nual banquet,  as  follows: 

"The  relations  of  the  Southern  people  with  the  Negro  are 
close  and  cordial.  We  remember  with  what  fidelity  for  four 
years  he  guarded  our  defenseless  women  and  children,  whose 
husbands  and  fathers  were  fighting  against  his  freedom. 
To  his  credit  be  it  said  that  whenever  he  struck  a  blow  for 
his  own  liberty,  he  fought  in  open  battle,  and  when  at  last 
he  raised  his  black  and  humble  hands  that  the  shackles 
might  be  struck  off,  those  hands  were  innocent  of  wrong 
against  his  helpless  charges,  and  worthy  to  be  taken  in  lov- 
ing grasp  by  every  man  who  honors  loyalty  and  devotion. 

"Ruffians  have  maltreated  him,  rascals  have  misled  him, 
philanthropists  established  a  bank  for  him;  but  the  South 
with  the  North  protests  against  injustice  to  this  simple  and 
sincere  people.  To  liberty  and  enfranchisement  is  as  far  as 
law  can  carry  the  Negro.  The  rest  may  be  left  to  conscience 
and  common  sense.  It  should  be  left  to  those  among  whom 
his  lot  is  cast;  with  whom  he  is  indissolubly  connected  and 
whose  prosperity  depends  upon  their  possessing  his  intelli- 
gent sympathy  and  confidence.  Faith  has  been  kept  with 
him  in  spite  of  calumnious  assertions  to  the  contrary  by  those 
who  assume  to  speak  for  us,  or  by  frank  opponents.  Faith 
will  be  kept  with  him  in  future  if  the  South  holds  her  reason 
and  integrity.  .  .  .  The  South  found  her  jewel  in  the 

14 


216  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION. 

toad's  head  of  defeat  [in  the  Civil  War].  The  shackles  that 
held  her  in  narrow  limitations  fell  forever  when  the  shackles 
of  the  Negro  slave  were  broken. 

"Under  the  old  regime  the  Negroes  were  slaves  of  the 
South,  the  South  was  a  slave  to  the  system.  The  old  planta- 
tion, with  its  simple  police  regulation  and  its  feudal  habit, 
was  the  only  type  possible  under  slavery.  Thus  was  gathered 
in  the  hands  of  a  splendid  and  chivalric  oligarchy  the  sub- 
stance that  should  have  been  diffused  among  the  people. 
The  old  South  rested  everything  on  slavery  and 
agriculture,  unconscious  that  these  could  neither  give  nor 
maintain  healthy  growth.  The  new  South  presents  a  per- 
fect Democracy,  the  oligarchs  leading  in  the  popular  move- 
ment— a  social  system  compact  and  close-knitted,  less  splen- 
did on  the  surface,  but  stronger  at  the  core;  a  hundred  farms 
for  every  plantation,  fifty  homes  for  every  palace,  and  a 
diversified  industry  that  meets  the  complex  needs  of  this 
complex  age." 

V.  GRADY  DISCUSSES  THE  RACE  PROBLEM  AND  THE  DUTY 
OF  NORTH  AND  SOUTH. 

A  short  time  before  he  died  Henry  W.  Grady  was  invited 
by  the  Merchants'  Association  of  Boston  to  join  them  in  a 
banquet  and  discuss  the  race  problem.  He  delivered  on  that 
occasion  a  speech  so  remarkable  that  it  attracted  the  atten- 
tion of  the  whole  country,  and  was  published  in  full  by 
nearly  every  high-class  daily  newspaper.  When  he  came  in 
the  course  of  his  address,  to  notice  specifically  the  race  ques- 
tion, he  said: 

"In  1880  the  South  had  fewer  Northern-born  citizens  than 
she  had  in  1870— fewer  in  1870  than  in  1860.  Why  is  this? 
Why  is  it,  though  the  sectional  line  be  now  but  a  mist  that 
the  breath  may  dispel,  fewer  men  of  the  North  have  crossed 
it  over  to  the  South  than  when  it  was  crimson  with  the  best 
blood  of  the  republic,  or  even  when  the  slave-holder  stood 
guard  every  inch  of  its  way? 


H.  P.  CHEATHAM, 


218  THE    NEGRO    IN   REVELATION, 

"There  can  be  but  one  answer.  It  is  the  very  problem  we 
are  now  to  consider.  The  key  that  opens  that  problem  will 
unlock  to  the  world  the  fairest  half  of  this  republic,  and  free 
the  halted  feet  of  thousands  whose  eyes  are  already  kindling 
with  its  beauty.  Better  than  this,  it  will  open  the  hearts  of 
brothers  for  thirty  years  estranged,  and  clasp  in  lasting 
comradeship  a  million  hands  now  withheld  in  doubt.  Noth- 
ing but  this  problem  and  the  suspicions  it  breeds  hinders  a 
clear  understanding  and  a  perfect  union.  Nothing  else 
stands  between  us  and  such  love  as  bound  Georgia  and  Massa- 
chusetts at  Valley  Forge  and  Yorktown,  chastened  by  the 
sacrifices  at  Manassas  and  Gettysburgh,  and  illumined  with 
the  coming  of  better  work  and  a  nobler  destiny  than  was 
ever  wrought  with  the  sword  or  sought  at  the  cannon's 
mouth. 

"If  this  does  not  invite  your  patient  hearing  tonight — 
hear  one  thing  more.  My  people,  your  brothers  in  the 
South — brothers  in  blood,  in  destiny,  in  all  that  is  best  in 
our  past  and  future — are  so  beset  with  this  problem  that  their 
very  existence  depends  on  its  right  solution.  Nor  are  they 
wholly  to  blame  for  its  presence.  The  slave-ships  of  the  re- 
public sailed  from  your  ports — the  slaves  worked  in  our  fields. 
You  will  not  defend  the  traffic  nor  I  the  institution.  But  I 
do  hereby  declare  that  in  its  wise  and  humane  administration, 
in  lifting  the  slave  to  heights  of  which  he  had  not  dreamed 
in  his  savage  home,  and  giving  him  a  happiness  he  has  not 
found  in  freedom — our  fathers  left  their  sons  a  saving  and 
excellent  heritage.  In  the  storm  of  war  this  institution  was 
lost.  I  thank  God  as  heartily  as  you  do  that  human  slavery 
is  gone  forever  from  American  soil.  But  the  freedman  re- 
mains. With  him  a  problem  without  precedent  or  parallel. 
Note  its  complicated  conditions.  Two  utterly  dissimilar  races 
on  the  same  soil — with  equal  political  and  civil  rights — 
almost  equal  in  numbers  but  terribly  unequal  in  intelligence 
and  responsibility — the  experiment  sought  by  neither  but 
approached  by  both  with  doubt — these  are  the  conditions. 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  219 

Under  these,  adverse  at  every  point,  we  are  required  to  carry 
these  two  races  in  peace  and  honor  to  the  end. 

"I  bespeak  your  patience  while,  with  vigorous  plainness  of 
speech,  seeking  your  judgment  rather  than  your  applause, 
I  proceed  step  by  step.  We  give  to  the  world  this  year  a 
crop  of  7,500,000  bales  of  cotton,  worth  $450,000,000,  and 
its  cash  equivalent  in  grain,  grasses  and  fruits.  This  enor- 
mous crop  could  not  have  come  from  the  hands  of  sullen  and 
discontented  labor.  It  comes  from  peaceful  fields,  in  which 
laughter  and  gossip  rise  above  the  hum  of  industry,  and 
contentment  runs  with  the  singing  plow. 

"It  is  claimed  that  this  ignorant  labor  is  defrauded  of  its 
just  hire.  I  present  the  tax-books  of  Georgia,  which  show 
that  the  Negro,  twenty-five  years  ago  a  slave,  has  in  Geor- 
gia alone  $10,000,000  of  assessed  property,  worth  twice  that 
much.  Does  not  that  record  honor  him  and  vindicate  his 
neighbors?  What  people,  penniless,  illiterate,  has  done  so 
well?  For  every  Afro- American  agitator,  stirring  the  strife 
in  which  alone  he  prospers,  I  can  show  you  a  thousand  Ne- 
groes, happy  in  their  cabin  homes,  tilling  their  own  land  by 
day,  and  at  night  taking  from  the  lips  of  their  children  the 
helpful  message  their  State  sends  them  from  the  school- 
house  door.  And  the  school-house  itself  bears  testimony. 
In  Georgia  we  added  last  year  $250,000  to  the  school  fund, 
making  a  total  of  more  than  $1,000,000;  and  this  in  the  face 
of  a  prejudice  not  yet  conquered,  of  the  facts  that  the  whites 
are  assessed  for  $368,000,000,  the  blacks  for  $10,000,000, 
and  yet  49  per  cent  of  the  beneficiaries  are  black  children; 
and  in  the  doubt  of  many  wise  men  whether  education  helps, 
or  can  help,  our  problem.  Charleston,  with  her  taxes  cut 
half  in  two  since  1860,  pays  more  in  proportion  for  public 
schools  than  Boston.  Although  it  is  easier  to  give  much 
out  of  much  than  little  out  of  little,  the  South,  with  one- 
seventh  of  the  taxable  property  of  the  country,  with  rela- 
tively larger  debt,  having  received  only  one-twelfth  as  much 


220  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION. 

of  public  land,  and  having  back  of  its  tax-books  none  of  the 
half  billion  of  bonds  that  enrich  the  North ,  and  though  it 
pays  annually  $26,000,000  to  your  section  as  pensions,  yet 
gives  nearly  one-sixth  of  the  public  school  fund.  The  South, 
since  1865,  has  spent  $122,000,000  in  education,  and  this 
year  is  pledged  to  $37,000,000  for  state  and  city  schools, 
although  the  blacks,  paying  but  one-thirtieth  of  the  taxes, 
get  nearly  one-half  of  the  fund. 

"Go  into  our  fields  and  see  whites  and  blacks  working  side 
by  side;  on  our  buildings  in  the  same  squad;  in  our  shops 
at  the  same  forge.  Often  the  blacks  crowd  the  whites  from 
work,  or  lower  wages  by  the  greater  need  or  the  simpler 
habits,  and  yet  are  permitted  because  we  want  to  bar  them 
from  no  avenue  in  which  their  feet  are  permitted  to  tread. 
They  could  not  there  be  elected  orators  of  the  white  univer- 
sities, as  they  have  been  here;  but  they  do  enter  there  a  hun- 
dred useful  trades  that  are  closed  to  them  here.  We  hold  it 
better  and  wiser  to  tend  the  vegetables  in  the  garden  than  to 
water  the  exotics  in  the  window.  In  the  South  there  are 
Negro  lawyers,  teachers,  editors,  dentists,  doctors,  preachers, 
multiplying  with  the  increasing  ability  of  their  race  to  sup- 
port them.  In  villages  and  towns  they  have  their  military 
companies  equipped  from  the  armories  of  the  State,  their 
churches  and  societies,  built  and  supported  largely  by  their 
neighbors.  What  is  the  testimony  of  the  courts?  In  penal 
legislation  we  have  steadily  reduced  felonies  to  misde- 
meanors, and  have  led  the  world  in  mitigating  punishment 
for  crime,  that  we  might  save,  as  far  as  possible,  this  depend- 
ent race  from  its  own  weakness.  In  our  penitentiary 
record  sixty  per  cent,  of  the  prosecutors  are  Negroes,  and  in 
every  court  the  Negro  criminal  strikes  the  colored  juror, 
that  white  men  may  judge  his  case.  .  .  .  In  the  North 
the  percentage  of  Negro  prisoners  is  six  times  as  great  as  of 
native  whites;  in  the  South  only  four  times  as  great.  If 
prejudice  wrongs  him  in  Southern  courts,  the  record  shows 
it  to  be  deeper  in  Northern  courts. 


RT.  REV.  C.  H.  PHILLIPS. 
New  Bishop  in  C.  M.  C. 


222  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

"I  assert  here,  and  a  bar  as  intelligent  and  upright  as  the 
bar  of  Massachusetts  will  solemnly  indorse  my  assertion, 
that  in  the  Southern  courts,  from  highest  to  lowest,  plead- 
ing for  life,  liberty,  or  property,  the  Negro  has  distinct  ad- 
vantages, because  he  is  a  Negro,  apt  to  be  overreached,  op- 
pressed— and  that  this  advantage  reaches  from  the  juror  in 
making  his  verdict  to  the  judge  in  measuring  his  sentence. 
Now,  can  it  be  seriously  maintained  that  we  are  terrorizing 
the  people  from  whose  willing  hands  come  every  year 
$1,000,000,000  of  farm  crops?  Or  have  robbed  a  people  who 
twenty-five  years  from  unrewarded  slavery  have  amassed  in 
one  State  alone  $20,000,000  of  property?  Or  that  we  intend 
to  oppress  the  people  we  are  arming  every  day?  Or  deceive 
them  when  we  are  educating  them  to  the  utmost  limit  of 
our  ability?  Or  outlaw  them  when  we  work  side  by  side 
with  them?  Or  re-enslave  them  under  legal  forms,  when 
for  their  benefit  we  have  even  imprudently  narrowed  the 
limit  of  felonies  and  mitigated  the  severity  of  law?  My 
fellow-countryman,  as  you  yourself  may  sometimes  have  to 
appeal  to  the  bar  of  human  judgment  for  justice  and  for 
right,  give  to  my  people  tonight  the  fair  and  unanswerable, 
conclusion  of  these  incontestable  facts. 

u  But  it  is  claimed  that  under  this  fair  seeming  there  is 
disorder  and  violence.  This  I  admit.  And  there  will  be 
until  there  is  one  ideal  community  on  earth  after  which  we 
may  pattern.  But  how  widely  it  is  misjudged!  It  is  hard 
to  measure  with  exactness  whatever  touches  the  Negro.  His 
helplessness,  his  isolation,  his  centuries  of  servitude — these 
dispose  us  to  emphasize  and  magnify  his  wrongs.  This 
disposition,  inflamed  by  prejudice  and  partisanry,  has  led  to 
injustice  and  delusion.  Lawless  men  may  ravage  a  county 
in  Iowa  and  it  is  accepted  as  an  incident — in  the  South  a 
drunken  row  is  declared  to  be  the  fixed  habit  of  the  com- 
munity. 

"Regulators  may  whip  vagabonds  in  Indiana  by  platoons 
and  it  scarcely  arrests  attention — a  chance  collision  in  the 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  223 

South  among  relatively  the  same  classes  is  accepted  as  evi- 
dence that  one  race  is  destroying  the  other.  We  might  as 
well  claim  that  the  Union  was  ungrateful  to  the  colored  sol- 
diers who  followed  its  flag  because  a  Grand  Army  post  in 
Connecticut  closed  its  doors  to  a  Negro  veteran,  as  for  you  to 
give  racial  significance  to  every  incident  in  the  South,  or  to 
accept  exceptional  grounds  as  the  rule  of  our  society.  I  am 
not  of  those  who  becloud  American  honor  with  the  parade  of 
outrages  of  either  section,  and  belie  American  character  by 
declaring  them  to  be  significant  and  representative.  I  prefer 
to  maintain  that  they  are  neither  and  stand  for  nothing  but 
the  passion  and  the  sin  of  our  poor  fallen  humanity.  If 
society,  like  a  machine,  were  no  stronger  than  its  weakest 
part,  I  should  despair  of  both  sections.  But,  knowing  that 
society,  sentient  and  responsible  in  every  fiber,  can  mend  and 
repair  until  the  whole  has  the  strength  of  the  best,  I  despair 
of  neither.  The  gentlemen  who  come  with  me  here,  knit 
into  Georgia's  busy  life  as  they  are,  never  saw,  I  dare  assert, 
an  outrage  committed  on  a  Negro!  And  if  they  did,  not  one 
of  you  would  be  swifter  to  prevent  or  punish.  It  is  through 
them,  and  the  men  who  think  with  them — making  nine- 
tenths  of  every  Southern  community — that  these  two  races 
have -been  carried  thus  far  with  less  of  violence  than  would 
have  been  possible  anywhere  else  on  earth.  And  in  their 
fairness  and  courage  and  steadfastness — more  than  in  all  the 
laws  that  can  be  passed  or  all  the  bayonets  that  can  be 
mustered — is  the  hope  of  our  future. 

"When  will  the  black  cast  a  free  ballot?  When  ignorance 
anywhere  is  not  dominated  by  the  will  of  the  intelligent. 
When  the  laborer  anywhere  casts  a  vote  unhindered  by  his 
boss.  When  the  vote  of  the  poor  any  where  is  not  influenced 
by  the  power  of  the  rich.  When  the  strong  and  the  stead- 
fast do  not  everywhere  control  the  suffrage  of  the  weak  and 
shiftless — then  and  not  till  then  will  the  ballot  of  the  Negro 
be  free.  The  white  people  of  the  South  are  banded,  not  in 
prejudice  against  the  blacks,  not  in  sectional  estrangement, 


224  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION. 

not  in  the  hope  of  political  dominion,  but  in  a  deep  and 
abiding  necessity.  Here  is  this  vast,  ignorant  and  pur- 
chasable vote,  clannish,  credulous,  impulsive  and  passionate, 
tempting  every  art  of  the  demagogue,  but  insensible  to  the 
appeal  of  the  statesman.  Wrongly  started  in  that  it  was 
led  into  alienation  from  its  neighbor  and  taught  to  rely  on 
the  protection  of  an  outside  force,  it  cannot  be  merged  and 
lost  in  the  two  great  parties  through  logical  currents  for  it 
lacks  political  conviction  and  even  that  information  on  which 
conviction  is  based.  It  must  remain  a  faction,  strong  enough 
in  every  community  to  control  on  the  slightest  division  of 
the  whites.  Under  that  division  it  becomes  the  prey  of  the 
cunning  and  unscrupulous  of  both  parties.  Its  credulity  is 
imposed  on,  its  patience  inflamed,  its  cupidity  tempted,  its 
impulses  misdirected,  and  its  superstition  made  to  play  its 
part  in  a. campaign  in  which  every  interest  of  society  is 
jeopardized  and  every  approach  to  the  ballot-box  debauched. 
It  is  against  such  campaigns  as  this,  the  folly  and  the  bitter- 
ness and  the  danger  of  which  every  Southern  community 
has  drunk  deeply,  that  the  white  people  of  the  South  are 
banded  together. 

"We  are  challenged  with  the  smallness  of  our  vote.  This 
has  long  been  charged  flippantly  to  be  evidence,  and  has 
now  been  solemnly  and  officially  declared  to  be  proof  of  polit- 
ical turpitude  and  baseness  on  our  part. 

"It  is  deplorable  that  in  both  sections  a  larger  percentage 
of  the  vote  is  not  regularly  cast,  but  more  inexplicable  that 
this  should  be  so  in  New  Kngland  than  in  the  South.  What 
invites  the  Negro  to  the  ballot-box?  He  knows  that  of  all 
men  it  has  promised  him  most  and  yielded  him  least.  His  first 
appeal  to  suffrage  was  the  promise  of  forty  acres  and  a  mule. 
His  second,  the  threat  that  Democratic  success  meant  his  re- 
enslavement.  Both  have  been  proved  false  in  his  experi- 
ence. He  looked  for  a  home  and  he  got  the  Freedman's 


GENERAL  ROBT.  SMALLS,  BEAUFORT,  SOUTH  CAROLINA. 
Collector  of  Customs.     A  Noted  Record. 


226  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

Bank.  He  fought  under  the  promise  of  the  loaf  and  in  vic- 
tory was  denied  the  crumbs.  Discouraged  and  deceived,  he 
has  realized  at  last  that  his  best  friends  are  his  neighbors 
with  whom  his  lot  is  cast,  and  whose  prosperity  is  bound  up 
in  his;  and  that  he  has  gained  nothing  in  politics  to  com- 
pensate the  loss  of  their  confidence  and  sympathy  that  is  at 
last  his  best  and  his  enduring  hope.  And  so,  without  lead- 
ers or  organization — and  lacking  the  resolute  heroism  of  my 
party  friends  in  Vermont  that  makes  their  hopeless  march 
over  the  hills  a  high  and  inspiring  pilgrimage — he  shrewdly 
measures  the  occasional  agitator,  balances  his  little  account 
with  politics,  touches  up  his  mule,  and  jogs  down  the  fur- 
row, letting  the  mad  world  wag  as  it  will! 

•  •••••  ••••• 

"If  the  problem  be  solved  at  all — and  I  firmly  believe  it 
will,  though  nowhere  else  has  it  been — it  will  be  solved 
by  the  people  most  deeply  bound  in  interest,  most  deeply 
pledged  in  honor  to  its  solution.  I  would  rather  see  my 
people  render  back  this  question  rightly  solved  than  to  see 
them  gather  all  the  spoils  over  which  faction  has  contended 
since  Cataline  conspired  and  Caesar  fought .  Meantime  we  treat 
the  Negro  fairly,  measuring  to  him  justice  in  the  fullness 
the  strong  should  give  to  the  weak,  and  leading  him  in  the 
steadfast  ways  of  citizenship  that  he  may  no  longer  be  the 
prey  of  the  unscrupulous  and  the  sport  of  the  thoughtless. 
We  open  to  him  every  pursuit  in  which  he  can  prosper  and 
seek  to  broaden  his  training  and  capacity.  We  seek  to  hold 
his  confidence  and  friendship,  and  to  pin  him  to  the  soil  with 
ownership,  that  he  may  catch  in  the  fire  of  his  own  hearth- 
stone that  sense  of  responsibility  the  shiftless  can  never 
know.  And  we  gather  him  into  that  alliance  of  intelli- 
gence and  responsibility  that,  though  it  now  runs  close  to 
racial  lines,  welcomes  the  responsible  and  intelligent  of  any 
race.  By  this  course,  confirmed  in  our  judgment  and  jus- 
tified in  the  progress  already  made,  we  hope  to  progress 
slowly  but  surely  to  the  end. 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  227 

"The  love  we  feel  for  that  race  you  cannot  measure  nor 
comprehend.  As  I  attest  it  here,  the  spirit  of  my  old  black 
mammy  from  her  home  up  there  looks  down  to  bless,  and 
through  the  tumult  of  this  night  steals  the  sweet  music  of 
her  croonings  as  thirty  years  ago  she  held  me  in  her  black 
arms  and  led  me  smiling  into  sleep.  This  scene  vanishes  as 
I  speak  and  I  catch  a  vision  of  an  old  Southern  home,  with 
its  lofty  pillars,  and  its  white  pigeons  fluttering  down  through 
the  golden  air.  I  see  white  women  with  strained  and  anxious 
faces  and  children  alert,  yet  helpless.  I  see  night  come 
down  with  its  dangers  and  its  apprehensions,  and  in  a  big, 
homely  room  I  feel  on  my  tired  head  the  touch  of  whtie 
white  hands — now  worn  and  wrinkled,  but  fairer  to  me  yet 
than  the  hands  of  any  other  mortal  woman,  and  stronger  yet 
to  lead  me  than  the  hands  of  mortal  man — as  they  lay  my 
mother's  blessing  there  while  at  her  knees — the  truest  altar 
I  have  yet  found — I  thank  God  that  she  is  safe  in  her 
sanctuary,  because  her  slaves,  sentinel  in  the  silent  cabin 
or  guard  at  her  chamber  door,  put  a  black  man's  loyalty  be- 
tween her  and  danger. 

UI  catch  another  vision.  The  crisis  of  battle — a  soldier 
struck,  staggering,  fallen.  I  see  a  slave,  scuffling  through 
the  smoke,  winding  his  black  arms  about  the  fallen  form, 
reckless  of  the  hurtling  death,  bending  his  trusty  face  to 
catch  the  words  that  tremble  on  the  stricken  lips,  so  wrestling 
meantime  with  agony  that  he  would  lay  down  his  life  in  his 
master's  stead.  I  see  him  by  the  weary  bedside,  ministering 
with  uncomplaining  patience,  praying  with  all  his  humble 
heart  that  God  will  lift  his  master  up,  until  death  comes  in 
mercy  and  in  honor  to  still  the  soldier's  agony  and  seal  the 
soldier's  life.  I  see  him  by  the  open  grave,  mute,  motion- 
less, uncovered,  suffering  for  the  death  of  him  who  in  life 
fought  against  his  freedom.  I  see  him  when  the  mound  is 
heaped  and  the  great  drama  of  his  life  is  closed,  turn  away  with 
downcast  eyes  and  with  uncertain  step  start  out  into  new  and 
strange  fields,  faltering,  struggling,  but  moving  on,  until 


228  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION. 

his  shambling  figure  is  lost  in  the  light  of  this  better  and 
brighter  day.  And  from  the  grave  conies  a  voice  saying: 
'Follow  him!  Put -your  arms  about  him  in  his  need,  even 
as  he  put  his  arms  about  me.  Be  his  friend,  as  he  was  mine. ' 
And  out  into  this  new  world — strange  to  me  as  to  him,  daz- 
zling, bewildering  both — I  follow!  And  may  God  forget  my 
people  when  they  forget  these! 

"Whatever  the  future  may  hold  for  them — whether  they 
plod  along  in  the  servitude  from  which  they  have  never  been 
lifted  since  the  Cyrenian  was  laid  hold  upon  by  the  Roman 
soldiers  and  made  to  bear  the  cross  of  the  fainting  Christ — 
whether  they  find  homes  again  in  Africa,  and  thus  hasten 
the  prophecy  of  the  psalmist,  who  said,  'And  suddenly 
Ethiopia  shall  hold  out  her  hands  unto  God' — whether  for- 
ever dislocated  and  separated  they  remain  a  weak  people 
beset  by  stronger,  and  exist,  as  the  Turk,  who  lives  in  the 
jealousy  rather  than  in  the  conscience  of  Europe — or  whether, 
in  this  miraculous  republic,  they  break  through  the  caste 
of  twenty  centuries,  and,  belying  universal  history,  reach  the 
full  stature  of  citizenship,  and  in  peace  maintain  it — we  shall 
give  them  the  uttermost  justice  and  abiding  friendship. 
And  whatever  we  do,  into  whatever  seeming  estrangement 
we  may  be  driven,  nothing  shall  disturb  the  love  we  bear 
this  republic,  or  mitigate  our  consecration  to  its  service. 
When  General  Lee,  whose  heart  was  the  temple  of  our  hopes 
and  whose  arm  was  clothed  with  our  strength,  renewed  his 
allegiance  to  this  government  at  Appomattox,  he  spoke  from 
a  heart  too  great  to  be  false,  and  he  spoke  for  every  honest 
man  from  Maryland  to  Texas.  From  that  day  to  this, 
Hamilcar  has  nowhere  in  the  South  sworn  young  Hannibal 
to  hatred  and  vengeance — but  everywhere  to  loyalty  and  love. 

VI.  CONDITION  OF  THE  NEGRO,  PAST  AND  PRESENT. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  "Current  Topics  Club' '  of  Pilgrim  Con- 
gregational Church  in  St.  Louis,  on  the  night  of  December 
5,  1901,  Dr.  James  W.  Lee,  pastor  of  St.  John's  Methodist 


MRS.  MARY  CHURCH  TERRELL. 
Graduate  of  Oberlin  College.     Eloquent    Speaker  and   Linguist  of  Note. 


230  THE   NEGRO    IN   REVELATION, 

Episcopal  Church,  South,  and  formerly  a  presiding  elder  of 
the  St.  Louis  Conference,  a  humane  and  thoughtful  man  and 
a  thorough  Southerner,  made  a  frank  statement  of  the  status 
of  the  Negro  race  as  seen  during  life  in  the  South,  as  follows: 

"There  are  at  this  time  in  the  United  States  8,840,789  of 
the  best  fed,  best  clothed,  best  housed  and  best  educated 
Negroes  to  be  found  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  They  have 
reached  the  place  they  occupy  to-day,  so  high  above  that  of 
the  race  to  which  they  belong  in  Africa,  through  two  hun- 
dred and  forty  years  of  discipline  gained  in  slavery,  and 
through  thirty-seven  years  of  experience  gained  in  freedom. 
The  slavery  into  which  the  Negroes  were  sold  in  America 
was  the  most  glorious  freedom,  however,  in  comparison  with 
the  slavery  from  which  they  were  bought,  or  stolen,  in  Africa. 
It  is  well  that  American  slavery  ended  when  it  did.  But 
that  it  did  last  until  the  Negro  could  learn  the  first  lessons 
in  civilization  is  the  best  thing  that  has  happened  to  him  in 
his  long  and  awful  existence.  The  African  slave  trade,  which 
John  Wesley  called  'the  sum  of  all  villainies,'  and  David  Liv- 
ingstone, 'the  open  sore  of  the  world,'  was,  in  so  far  as  it  con- 
cerned the  Negroes  sold  into  slavery  in  America,  providential; 
and  the  institution  of  slavery  in  this  country  was  provider 
tial,  and  j;et  a  merciful  God  does  not  sanction  either  the 
traffic  or  the  institution.  But  we  are  taught  in  the  script- 
ures that  God  often  makes  the  wrath  of  man  to  praise  Him. 
Joseph  was  sold  by  his  own  brethren  to  traveling  merchants, 
and  carried  as  a  slave  into  Egypt.  When  these  same  breth- 
ren returned  from  the  burial  of  their  father,  Joseph  said  to 
them:  'As  for  you,  ye  thought  evil  against  me,  but  God 
meant  it  unto  good,  to  bring  to  pass,  as  it  is  this  day,  to 
save  much  people  alive.' 

"So  far  as  the  slave-traders  were  concerned,  they  thought 
evil  against  the  Negro.  They  thought  only  of  the  money  they 
could  make,  through  buying  him  and  selling  him,  but  God 
meant  it  unto  good,  to  save  to  civilization  millions  of  human 
beings,  and  through  them  carry  civilization  to  a  continent  of 


IN   HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  231 

savage  human  beings  in  Africa.  Nevertheless,  Jacob's  sons 
were  guilty  of  a  great  sin  for  selling  their  brother  Joseph, 
and  the  people  of  this  country  were  guilty  of  a  great  sin  for 
buying  the  Negro  and  for  enslaving  him.  For  the  wrongs 
of  slavery  the  northern  and  southern  sections  of  the  Union 
are  alike  responsible.  The  North  mainly  for  the  traffic,  and 
the  South  mainly  for  the  institution.  But  both  sections  have 
atoned  for  their  wrong-doing.  The  South  civilized  the  Negro 
and  the  North  set  him  free. 

"More  attention  has  been  devoted  to  the  people  of  African 
descent  since  1865  than  to  those  among  us  of  any  other 
nationality.  They  have,  in  themselves,  given  us,  and  are 
giving  us,  our  great  national  problem.  The  Negro  problem 
is  everybody's  problem,  and  will  not  down,  or  suffer  itself,  as 
yet,  to  be  solved.  This  question  is  up  in  one  form  or  an- 
other in  all  our  conventions,  political,  commercial  and  re- 
ligious. It  divided  the  Methodist  Church,  separated  the 
States  into  warring  armies,  and  continues  to  produce  divis- 
ion in  all  kinds  of  meetings,  from  labor  unions  to  women's 
clubs.  The  -poor  Indians  have  been  here  from  the  begin- 
ning, and  were  here,  perhaps,  a  thousand  years  before  the 
Pilgrim  Fathers  landed  on  the  coast  of  Cape  Cod,  but  no  one 
seems  to  think  the  red  man  of  sufficient  importance  to  make 
a  problem  of.  He  has  been  outrageously  treated,  robbed  of 
his  land,  driven  from  his  valleys  and  his  rivers,  but  no  one 
seems  to  take  his  sorrows  to  heart.  By  tacit  but  universal 
consent  the  black  man  is  our  national  problem. 

"Pharaoh  in  the  government  of  Egypt  was  never  more  per- 
plexed at  the  presence  of  the  Israelite  in  his  country  than 
we,  as  a  people,  are  to-day  at  the  presence  of  the  Negro 
among  us.  We  may  comfort  ourselves,  however,  with  the 
thought  that  the  American  people  are  accustomed  to  suc- 
ceed in  whatever  they  undertake  with  all  their  hearts  and 
strength  to  do.  And  it  does  seem  as  though  every  serious- 
minded  man  and  woman  in  these  United  States  was  at 
this  time  set  and  determined  on  finding  some  rational, 

15 


232  THE    NEGRO    IN   REVELATION, 

humane  and  Christian  way  to  settle  the  Negro  question;  his 
place,  his  capacity  and  his  future.  One  thing  we  all  know 
beyond  any  doubt,  the  Negro  is  here;  and  another,  it  is  time 
for  us  all  to  know  that  he  is  here  to  stay.  We  cannot 
deport  him  and  work  his  problem  out  in  Africa;  we  can- 
not concentrate  him  into  some  single  State  or  group  of  States, 
and  work  it  out  there.  We  must  take  him  just  where  he  is 
and  scattered  as  he  is,  mainly  over  the  States  which  once 
united  to  form  the  Southern  Confederacy,  and  work  it  out 
there. 

"The  South  is  a  better  place  for  the  Negro  than  Africa  itself. 
The  Negro  finds  under  the  soft  skies  and  in  the  warm  sun- 
shine of  the  South  the  very  conditions  he  needs  to  grow  in  and 
to  come  to  the  best  he  finds  within  himself.  Then  the  South- 
ern people  are  the  best  friends  he  has  ever  found.  They 
understand  his  weaknesses  and  the  points  of  strength  in  his 
character.  They  civilized  him  and  have  given  to  him  all  the 
practical  knowledge  he  possesses.  They  have  received  the 
rewards  of  his  labor.  They  know  better  how  to  work  out  his 
future  than  any  other  people.  It  is  evident  to  all  who  have 
studied  the  history  of  the  Negro  that  his  development  and 
progress  is  only  possible  in  relation  with  a  superior  race. 
Not  only  is  it  necessary  that  he  be  in  connection  with  the 
white  people  in  order  to  reach  a  higher  state  of  civilization, 
but  he  can  only  maintain  civilization  in  relation  with  them. 

uln  despair  of  seeing  any  solution  to  the  Negro  problem 
certain  colored  leaders,  and  not  a  few  white  people,  have 
proposed  the  scheme  of  wholesale  deportation  to  Africa. 
This  is  impossible,  but  were  it  feasible,  it  is  wrong.  It  is  a 
short-cut  and  wholesale  method  of  ridding  the  country  of  a 
great  duty  and  a  great  responsibility.  If  the  Negroes  have 
not  maintained  civilization  in  Hayti,  as  is  well  known  they 
have  not,  after  having  been  trained  and  taught  in  the  prin- 
ciples of  orderly  life,  how  can  we  expect  they  would  main- 
tain it  in  wild  and  lawless  and  barbarous  Africa?  The  forests 
there  have  never  been  cleared — it  is  a  wilderness  in  which 


TV   HISTORY,    AND    IN   CITIZENSHIP. 

the  Negroes  would  lapse  into  barbarism  in  less  than  a  hun- 
dred years. 

" The  Hebrews  were  in  training  in  Egypt  four  hundred 
and  thirty  years  before  they  were  ready  to  go  up  to  the 
promised  land.  There,  because  of  the  traditional  hatred  the 
Egyptians  had  for  shepherds,  and  because  of  the  Egyptian 
caste  prejudice  for  all  foreigners,  the  races  were  kept  apart, 
so  that  the  Hebrews  gradually  grew  into  a  homogeneous  and 
unmixed  people.  If  there  had  been  free  intermarriage  and 
social  equality,  the  Hebrew  race  would  have  been  absorbed, 
and  there  would  have  been  no  Moses  to  write  the  world's 
moral  law;  and  no  David  to  sing  away  the  world's  doubt  and 
sorrow.  Our  own  Anglo-Saxon  race  has  become  capable  of 
self-government  only  after  more  than  a  thousand  years  of 
civil  and  spiritual  authority. 

"Had  there  been  any  free  intermarriage  and  social  equal- 
ity between  the  Hebrews  and  the  Egyptians,  if  there  had 
been  such  a  man  as  Moses  at  all,  he  never  would  have  refused 
to  be  called  the  son  of  Pharaoh's  daughter,  he  never  would 
have  chosen  the  reproach  of  Christ  rather  than  the  pleasures 
of  Egypt,  he  never  would  have  fled  into  Midian  to  be  in 
training  with  God  for  forty  years,  he  would  never  have  had 
any  respect  for  the  recompense  of  reward  stored  up  for  him 
in  the  future  of  the  human  race,  he  would  have  remained  an 
Egyptian  prince  to  the  end  of  his  life,  and  after  death  he 
would  have  been  embalmed  and  placed  in  a  royal  tomb,  as  was 
old  Rameses  II.,  his  king,  and  now,  perhaps,  after  three 
thousand  three  hundred  years  he  would  have  been  found,  as 
old  Rameses  II.  has  been  found,  as  dry  and  parched  and 
brown  as  more  than  three  thousand  years  of  silence  in  mum- 
mied confinement  could  make  him.  He  would  be  lying 
among  the  other  curiosities  beside  his  ugly  old  king  in  the 
Gizeh  museum  at  Cairo,  or  else  he  would  have  been  bought 
for  $250  by  some  tourists  from  England  or  America  to  lend 
interest  to  a  museum  in  London  or  New  York.  Instead  of  a 
miserable  parched  and  powdered  and  $250  end  like  this, 


234  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION. 

he  has  come  to  the  recompense  of  the  reward  for  which  he 
had  respect.  He  is  the  world's  acknowledged  leader  in  the 
kingdom  of  moral  law.  His  ethics  furnish  underpinning  for 
civilized  government  and  protection  for  civilized  life.  The 
instinctive  and  constitutional  and  fundamental  race  antip- 
athy the  white  man  feels  for  the  black  man  is  notice  served 
by  the  Almighty  in  the  very  structure  of  the  white  man's 
being  that  He  intends  for  the  colored  man  to  come  to  himself 
and  to  his  estate  as  a  separate,  distinct  and  homogeneous 
race;  that  there  may  go  from  this  people  law-givers,  prophets, 
leaders  and  preachers  to  redeem  the  Negro  race  in  Africa. 
What  God  seems  to  write  in  the  fiber  of  subjective  mind  and 
spirit  can  be  changed  by  no  objective  act  of  parliament,  or 
objective  amendments  to  constitutions.  When  an  instinct  is 
found  flowing  into  the  blood  of  a  people,  it  may  be  accepted 
as  coming  from  heaven.  The  caste  feeling,  therefore,  which 
so  many  decry  and  seek  to  eradicate,  is  not  wrong,  but  right, 
because  structural.  To  spend  our  time  and  money  in  bat- 
tling against  this  is  waste.  The  thing  to  do  is  to  recognize 
it  and  give  sympathy  and  support  in  line  with  it.  The  rea- 
son why  we  have  not  made  greater  headway  since  the  war  in 
lifting  up  the  Negro  than  we  have  is  because  we  have  ex- 
pended so  much  of  our  energy  in  tearing  down  fences  which 
God  built,  and  which  He  puts  up  again  as  soon  as  we  think 
they  are  down.  Had  there  been  no  caste  feeling  in  Egypt 
against  the  children  of  Israel  there  would  have  been  no 
chosen  people  and  no  Holy  Scriptures.  Caste  does  not  mean 
hate  and  enmity.  Between  peoples  of  different  caste  there 
may  be  and  there  should  be  mutual  respect  and  trust  and  love 
and  sympathy. 

"The  Negro  must  remain  in  training  with  the  white  race 
here  steadily  until  his  natural  tendencies  are  superseded  by 
a  higher  nature,  that  when  the  days  of  his  probation  are 
ended  he  may  go  forth  as  teacher,  as  preacher,  as  mechanic, 
and  as  a  capable  and  God-fearing  man  to  do  the  work  in 


PROF.  ROBT.  H.  TERRELL. 
Graduate  of  Harvard.     U.  S.   Magistrate,  D.  C. 


236  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

Africa  for  which  God  has  seemingly  so  marvelously  raised 
him  up  and  so  strangely  kept  him  and  trained  him. 

"The  people  of  the  North  and  the  people  of  the  South 
must  learn  to  be  patient  with  one  another,  and  especially 
must  both  learn  to  be  patient  with  the  Negro.  We  have  all 
gained  much  knowledge  since  1865,  but  if  we  are  patient 
and  sweet  and  tender  and  kind,  God  will  teach  us  a  great 
deal  more.  That  the  South  is  the  place  where  the  Negro's 
future  is  to  be  worked  out,  is  coming  to  be  more  and  more 
the  conviction  of  all  who  have  his  interests  at  heart.  The 
people  of  the  South  are  more  kindly  disposed  toward  him 
than  the  people  of  other  sections  of  the  country.  There  has 
been  talk  in  regions  where  the  Negroes  are  few  in  numbers 
about  social  equality.  Hquality  of  this  sort  is  not  the  kind 
the  Negro  needs.  What  the  Negro  needs  is  industrial 
equality,  and  he  finds  more  of  that  in  the  South  than  any- 
where else  on  earth.  There  are  those  who  think  the  Negro 
should  be  admitted  to  the  same  railway  coaches,  the  same 
hotels,  the  same  schools  and  to  the  same  churches  as 
the  white  people.  Those  who  live  in  the  South  do  not 
think  so,  but  they  believe  he  should  be  permitted  to  work 
upon  the  same  building,  to  plow  in  the  same  field,  to  ham- 
mer, iron  in  the  same  shop,  to  spin  cotton  in  the  same  fac- 
tory, and  to  make  syrup  at  the  same  sugar-cane  mill  along 
with  the  white  people.  It  is  clear  to  those  who  know  the 
facts  that  the  Negro  enjoys  more  equality  in  the  realm  of 
carpentry,  and  mechanics,  and  engineering,  and  agriculture, 
and  milling  in  the  South  than  he  is  permitted  to  enjoy  in  the 
North.  While  a  pastor  in  Rome,  Georgia,  I  built  a  church. 
The  foreman  in  its  construction  was  a  Negro,  and  he  had 
many  white  men  at  work  under  him.  I  am  building  a  church 
in  St.  Louis  now,  a  semi-Southern  city,  but  Northern  senti- 
ment is  so  strong  here  against  Negro  industrial  equality, 
that  if  I  were  to  go  out  to  the  corner  of  King's  highway  and 
Washington  avenue,  where  the  church  is  going  up,  to- 
morrow, and  tell  the  workmen  there  that  I  had  concluded  to 


77V   HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP. 

put  a  Negro  foreman  in  charge,  there  is  not  a  stone-mason, 
or  carpenter,  or  hod-carrier  connected  with  the  building  but 
would  lay  down  his  tools.  I  could  employ  a  Negro  foreman 
to  build  a  church  in  Rome,  Georgia,  but  I  cannot  do  it  in 
St.  Louis,  Missouri. 

"I  read  in  the  Globe- Democrat  last  spring  an  account  of  a 
scene  at  the  Liggett  &  Meyers  tobacco  factory  that  would 
have  been  impossible  in  the  South.  It  seems  that  the  man- 
agers needed  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  additional  children, 
from  ten  to  fifteen  years  of  age,  to  stem  tobacco.  As  they 
had  already  about  all  the  white  children  they  could  find, 
they  employed  young  Negroes  to  do  the  work;  but  these 
little  darkies  had  no  sooner  appeared  in  the  factory  to  take 
up  their  task  than  they  were  caught  bodily  by  the  white 
children  and  pitched  out  of  the  windows.  This  would  have 
happened,  perhaps,  in  almost  any  tobacco  factory  in  the 
Northern  States,  but  it  would  never  have  happened  in  the 
Southern  States.  And  yet  the  same  children  who  pitch 
young  Negroes  out  of  the  windows  when  they  come  to  work 
with  them  would  not  object  to  sitting  down  in  the  school,  or 
in  the  railway  car,  or  in  the  church  with  them.  What  is 
the  use  to  offer  the  Negro  equality  in  the  church,  or  theater, 
or  school,  or  railway  coach,  if  he  has  no  equality  in  the  shop 
or  the  factory?  The  South  offers  him  equality  where  his 
rations  are  involved.  They  do  believe  in  feeding  him  or 
giving  him  a  chance  to  feed  himself.  The  equality  the 
doctrinaires  offer  the  Negro  would  do  him  no  good.  .It  is 
not  the  side  of  himself  upon  which  he  needs  equality.  The 
equality  he  needs  touches  him  in  the  regions  of  his  practical 
life,  and  not  in  the  realms  of  the  drama  or  the  upholstered 
railway  palace. 

"During  the  time  when  the  civil  rights  bill  was  being 
agitated,  one  Negro  down  South  met  another  on  the  street 
and  undertook  to  explain  to  his  sable  brother  the  provisions 
of  the  bill.  'Why,'  said  the  first  speaker,  'by  the  provisions 
of  this  bill  you  can  go  to  the  first-class  theater,  just  the  same 


238  THE    NEGRO    IN   REVELATION, 

as  the  white  folks.  You  can  go  to  the  four-dollar-a-day 
hotels  and  sit  down  at  the  first  table  along  with  them;  you 
can  pay  your  two  dollars  and  get  your  sleeping  car  and  sleep 
under  the  white  sheets  just  the  same  as  the  white  folks,  and 
then,  when  you  die,  you  can  be  buried  in  a  metallic  coffin, 
just  like  the  white  folks.  Why,  sir,  by  the  provisions  of 
this  bill ' 

"  'Look  here,  nigger,  stop  rite  dar,'  interposed  the  son  of 
Ham  addressed.  'Did  you  say  there  was  provisions  in  that 
bill?  If  dey  is,  den  I  want  'em.  I  don't  care  anything 
about  your  four-dollar-a-day  hotel  or  your  Pullman  palace 
car,  or  sleeping  under  white  sheets,  or  getting  buried  in  an 
italic  coffin;  but  if  dere  is  provisions  in  de  bill  I  am  for  dem. 
I  want  a  ham  and  a  sack  of  flour  jist  as  quick  as  I  can  git 
'em.' 

"This  story  illustrates  the  difference  between  the  Northern 
and  Southern  attitude  in  regard  to  the  Negro.  Our  friends 
in  the  North  have  been  anxious  about  his  civil  rights,  while 
the  Southern  people  have  been  concerned  about  his  right  to 
work  for  bread  and  meat.  One  section  does  not  seem  to  care 
whether  he  eats  or  not,  just  so  he  votes;  the  other  section  is 
not  exceedingly  anxious  as  to  whether  he  votes  or  not,  just 
so  he  eats.  As  it  is  necessary  for  him  to  eat  1,095  times  a 
year  and  to  vote  only  once,  it  seems  to  me  that  those  who 
are  mainly  concerned  about  giving  him  the  right  to  eat,  with 
no  emphasis  on  voting,  are  better  friends  to  him  than  those 
concerned  mainly  about  giving  him  the  right  to  vote,  with 
no  emphasis  on  eating. 

"The  future  of  the  Negro  is  not  to  be  worked  out  along 
political  lines,  but  along  the  lines  of  industry,  morality 
and  religion.  The  side  of  his  nature  upon  which  he  is 
richest  is  the  religious.  He  is  born,  seemingly,  with  more 
religion  than  human  beings  of  any  other  race.  Those 
who  are  to  help  him  work  out  his  future  must  take  knowl- 
edge of  this  fact.  If  we  are  to  lift  him  up  we  must 
take  hold  of  him  on  his  tropical,  fertile  side.  Naturally 


IN   HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  239 

he  is  endowed  with  the  most  lively  sense  of  the  unseen. 
Because  of  this,  he  is  in  danger  of  being  led  into  all  sorts  of 
extravagance.  Religion  with  him  is  a  luxury,  in  which  he 
revels.  If  ever  the  divine  and  rational  and  perfect  life  of 
Jesus  Christ  is  thoroughly  reproduced  in  the  religious  side  of 
the  Negro  race,  that  people  will  rise  up  as  a  strong  man 
armed  and  go  forth  to  redeem  the  continent  of  Africa.  I 
believe  it  would  be  wise  if  all  our  people  would  concentrate 
their  efforts  for  awhile  now  upon  cultivating  the  religious 
side  of  our  brother  in  black.  Let  his  political  side  alone. 
There  is  more  religious  raw  material  in  him  than  material 
of  any  other  sort. 

11  In  this  way  the  learning  and  morality  and  Christian 
character  of  our  noblest  and  best  people  would  touch  and  in- 
fluence and  build  up  those  colored  young  men  and  women 
looking  for  their  life-work  in  preaching  the  gospel  to  their 
people,  or  instructing  them  in  the  common  schools.  The 
Southern  Methodist  Church  has  a  negro  college  in  Augusta, 
Georgia,  presided  over  by  one  of  our  most  cultivated  minis- 
ters, who  is  himself  a  member  of  one  of  the  old  aristocratic 
South  Carolina  families.  This  institution  is  devoted  to  pre- 
paring colored  young  men  for  the  ministry  among  their  own 
people,  and  to  preparing  teachers  for  work  in  the  common 
colored  schools.  It  is  doing  more  good  than  any  institution 
of  the  same  grade  in  the  whole  Southern  States.  The  teach- 
ers in  it  are  consecrated  Southern  white  people.  There  is  a 
perfect  understanding  between  the  professors  and  the  stu- 
dents— the  professors  know  their  place,  and  the  colored  stu- 
dents know  their  place.  There  is  no  friction,  but  mutual  re- 
spect and  trust,  as  was  felt  before  the  war  between  the  Chris- 
tian master  and  the  faithful  servant. 

"Another  leading  line  along  which  the  Negro's  future  is 
to  be  worked  out  is  industrial.  He  should  be  helped,  as  many 
are  helping  him,  in  this  direction.  Everybody  rejoices  in  the 
success  of  Booker  T.  Washington  with  his  industrial  school 
at  Tuskegee,  Alabama.  Booker  T.  Washington  himself 


240  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

is  the  greatest  thing  the  Negro  race  has  produced  in  this 
generation.  Prof.  Huxley  was  at  dinner  with  a  company  of 
gentlemen  some  years  ago  in  London,  when  France  and  the 
French  were  being  discussed.  The  party,  being  English, 
were  almost  united  in  the  opinion  that  the  French  were  a 
light,  shallow,  unpromising  people.  'Yes,'  said  Mr.  Hux- 
ley, 'but  there  is  one  thing  we  must  all  remember,  France 
has  Pasteur.'  So,  while  many  people  today  are  ready  to 
think  there  is  no  hopeful  future  for  the  Negro  race,  we  should 
all  remember  that  it  has  Booker  T.  Washington.  In  the 
opinion  of  Prof.  Huxley,  Pasteur  was,  himself,  reason  suffi- 
cient for  the  existence  of  the  French  people;  and  Booker  T. 
Washington  is,  himself,  sufficient  reason  to  give  us  hope  for 
the  future  of  the  Negro.  He  has  been  raised  up  to  show 
what  the  Negro  can  do  with  his  hands,  and  to  illustrate,  in 
himself,  what  the  Negro  can  become,  as  a  man. 

"If  all  who  want  to  help  the  Negro  work  out  his  future 
will  turn  their  attention  toward  helping  him  along  industrial, 
moral  and  religious  lines  for  the  next  generation,  and  for 
the  time  being  let  his  political  fortunes  take  care  of  them- 
selves, we  will  find  in  thirty  years  that  he  is  not  such  a  diffi- 
cult proposition  as  the  whole  country  seems  united  in  agree- 
ing that  he  is  today." 

vii.  THE  NEGRO'S  NEEDS. 

Doctor  Lee's  address  before  the  "Current  Topics  Club"  was 
followed  by  one  at  a  meeting  of  the  St.  Louis  Evangelical 
Alliance,  December  30,  1901,  in  which  he  discussed  the 
Negro's  needs,  after  giving  a  succinct  history  of  the  intro- 
duction of  African  slavery  into  this  country.  His  remarks 
were  as  follows: 

"As  a  general  thing  the  relation  of  the  slave  to  his  owner 
was  one  of  sympathy  and  good-will.  Some  of  the  most  at- 
tractive and  saintly  and  beautiful  characters  who  have  ever 
lived  in  the  world,  grew  up  among  the  Negroes  in  the  South 
under  the  institution  of  slavery.  From  among  those  old 


IN   HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  241 

Negro  saints,  loving  their  cabins,  their  kinsfolk  and  the 
scenes  in  the  midst  of  which  they  grew  up,  artists  have  found 
about  the  only  types  of  character  among  us  who  have  any 
promise  of  living  in  the  popular  songs  of  the  people.  There 
is  a  charm  and  a  winsomeness  about  the  character  of  'Old 
Black  Joe'  that  takes  hold  of  the  imagination  completely.  I 
knew  'Old  Black  Joe,'  and  there  are  others  here,  if  they 
ever  lived  in  the  South,  who  knew  him.  Stephen  Collins 
Foster  has  given  us  his  portrait  without  exaggeration. 
There  he  sits,  back  yonder  in  the  days  before  1860,  in  front 
of  his  cabin,  under  the  shade  of  a  peach  tree,  too  old  to 
work,  talking  to  himself  and  saying  substantially: 

"Gone  are  the  days  when  my  heart  was  young  and  gay, 
Gone  are  my  friends  from  the  cotton  fields  away, 
Gone  from  this  earth  to  a  better  land  I  know, 
I  hear  their  gentle  voices  calling,  'Old  Black  Joe.' 

"Where  are  the  hearts  once  so  happy  and  so  free? 
The  children  so  dear  that  I  held  upon  my  knee? 
Gone  to  the  shore  where  my  soul  has  longed  to  go, 
I  hear  their  gentle  voices  calling,  'Old  Black  Joe.' 

"I'm  coming,  I'm  coming, 
For  my  head  is  bending  low, 
I  hear  those  gentle  voices  calling,  'Old  Black  Joe.'  " 

"  'Old  Black  Joe'  grew  up  and  grew  old  at  home,  loving 
his  master  and  his  missus,  holding  in  the  evening  of  his 
life  their  children  or  their  grandchildren  upon  his  knee, 
giving  them  quaint  and  interesting  information  about  Br'er 
Rabbit  and  Br'er  Fox.  One  who  never  knew  him  can  never 
know  what  a  lovely  and  tender-hearted  old  man  he  was. 
Such  a  specimen  of  generous,  fragrant,  responsive,  confiding 
and  simple  manhood  never  could  have  been  produced  in  the 
midst  of  a  cruel  and  hard  and  harsh (  environment.  Among 
many  other  types  which  have  been  given  immortality  in 
music,  there  is  the  Negro  brought  up  on  a  plantation  in  the 
far  South.  He  was  sold  to  a  master  in  another  State. 

16 


242  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

Still,  with  change  of  master  and  change  of  location,  he  re- 
tains his  simplicity  of  character,  his  love  for  the  old  place 
and  the  old  people.  He  has  wandered  far,  but  has  never  left 
the  native  and  genuine  and  beautiful  instincts  of  the  human 
soul.  Now  in  his  old  age,  he  sits  down  and  gives  himself 
up  to  memories  of  the  past.  He  is  thinking  of  the  old  plan- 
tation of  his  younger  days,  and  to  himself  he  meditates 

and  says: 

'All  'round  the  little  farm  I  wandered, 

when  I  was  young, 
Den  many  happy  days  I  squandered, 

many  de  songs  I  sung. 
When  I  was  playing  with  my  brudder, 

happy  was  I, 
Oh  take  me  to  my  kind  old  mudder, 

dere  let  me  live  and  die. 

'One  little  hut  among  the  bushes, 

one  dat  I  love, 
Still  sadly  to.  my  mem'ry  rushes, 

no  matter  where  I  rove, 
When  will  I  see  the  bees  a' humming, 

all  round  de  comb? 
When  will  I  hear  the  banjo  tumming, 

down  in  my  good  old  home? 

'All  de  world  am  sad  and  dreary, 

ebry where  I  roam, 
Oh  darkies  how  my  heart  grows  weary, 

far  from  the  old  folks  at  home. ' 

"This  old  Suwanee  Negro  has  gone  into  all  the  world.  He 
has  been  idealized  and  made  immortal  in  the  most  popular 
song,  perhaps,  ever  written  in  this  country.  The  great 
singers  always  strike  chords  in  the  common  heart,  not  only 
in  New  York,  but  also  in  St.  Petersburg  and  Vienna  and 
Paris  and  London,  when  they  respond  to  encores  from  the 
great  audiences  with  'Old  Folks  at  Home.'  It  is  well 
worth  considering.  Just  why  should  others  have  been  passed 
by — revolutionary  heroes,  early  settlers,  lonely  Indians, 


IN   HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  243 

hunters  on  the  plains,  exiles  of  Erin,  and  this  good  humble, 
simple,  pure-hearted,  old  Suwanee  Negro  selected  to  live  for- 
ever in  America's  most  universal  and  popular  song?  The 
main  reason,  I  believe,  is  found  in  the  element  of  homesick- 
ness, which  makes  up  one  of  the  permanent  and  essential 
qualities  of  the  true  Negro's  life.  There  is  a  far  away  look 
on  his  face,  and  a  longing  deep  in  his  nature,  for  things  be- 
yond him  and  above  him.  By  this  sigh  for  the  distant,  by 
this  yearning  for  the  years  of  youth  and  the  time  of  gladness 
with  which  he  somehow  feels  himself  in  correspondence 
through  love  for  his  God,  the  source  of  all  spring-time  and 
youth,  he  is  transfigured.  His  nature  glows;  his  face  be- 
comes luminous  with  an  inner  light;  his  heart  swells  with 
unutterable  hopes.  Having  no  intellectual  entanglements 
with  doubt  and  unbelief,  he  receives  the  impressions  made 
by  the  impact  of  the  unseen  upon  the  surface  of  his  religious 
nature  as  literal  truth. .  He  is  so  perfectly  unsophisticated, 
so  genuine  and  thoroughly  himself,  so  completely  artless 
and  guileless,  that  all  artists,  as  well  as  everybody  else,  falls 
in  love  with  him.  The  poor  exile  of  Hrin  who  has  been 
standing  on  the  beach,  with  the  dew  on  his  thin  robe  so  long, 
is  rather  a  touching  figure.  He  makes  a  very  good  theme 
for  poetry,  as  he  stands  looking  from  his  sad  foreign  shore 
across  the  waters  to  the  sweetest  sea-beaten  isle  of  the  ocean, 
but  one  cannot  resist  the  impression  that  he  knows  too  well 
how  to  take  care  of  himself  in  an  election,  to  be  really  as 
deeply  sad  and  lonely  as  he  looks.  Hence  the  world  does  not 
take  him  seriously  enough  to  sing  with  any  enthusiasm  about 
his  short-lived  loneliness  and  grief.  The  old  Suwanee  Negro, 
on  the  other  hand ,  has  no  opportunity  to  mend  his  earthly  fort- 
unes. His  homesickness  is  permanent  and  organic.  Noth- 
ing is  left  him  but  his  loved  ones  and  his  home  in  heaven. 
To  these  he  turns  with  all  the  ardor  and  strength  of  a  re- 
newed, radiant  nature.  He  has  not  a  single  earthly  hope. 
Hence  the  artist  passes  by  the  Irishman  and  the  successful 
American  and  enshrines  in  everlasting  song  this  heavenly- 


244  THE    NEGRO    IN   REVELATION, 

minded  old  darky,  and  the  world  gladly  gives  him  the  hom- 
age due  to  perfect  simplicity  and  beauty  of  character.  The 
barriers  imposed  upon  the  Negro  by  the  institution  of  slavery 
he  did  not  resent,  but  accepted  in  obedience  and  good- will. 
He  gave  his  nights  to  innocent  and  refreshing  sleep,  and  not 
to  intrigues  and  conspiracies.  Slavery  as  a  barrier  served 
as  a  controller  and  generator  of  religious  energy.  When  the 
river  which  has  been  spreading  itself  over  a  shallow  expanse 
is  shut  within  narrow  rock  walls,  or  when  an  expanded  body 
of  steam  is  confined  in  a  cylinder,  the  limitation  in  each  case 
is  a  direct  creator  of  power.  Because  of  the  limitation  placed 
about  the  Negro  by  the  institution  of  slavery,  there  was  but 
one  side  of  himself  through  which  he  had  untrammeled 
opportunity  to  flower,  and  that  was  his  religious  side,  which 
covers  about  three-fourths  of  the  surface  of  the  Negro's  life. 
Because  of  this  the  Negro  was  contented  and  happy  in 
slavery,  and  because  he  did,  through  large  expression  of 
himself  on  the  side  of  his  religious  nature,  become  obedient, 
polite,  humble  and  tender-hearted,  his  master  loved  him  with 
great  tenderness.  The  Southern  people  therefore  like  the 
Negroes.  They  have  seen  them  at  their  best  estate.  They 
know  when  they  grow  up  under  the  nurture  and  admonition 
of  the  Lord,  genuinely  pious  and  true,  that  they  are  charm- 
ing and  attractive  human  beings.  Hence  we  find  under  the 
institution  of  slavery  imitations  of  the  highest  types  of  char- 
acter that  we  are  to  find  among  them  under  the  conditions  of 
freedom.  While  the  barrier  of  slavery  has  been  taken  away, 
still  the  Negro  is  under  limitations  just  as  great,  and  these 
are  in  reality  the  conditions  of  his  advancement.  It  is  now 
the  barriers  of  poverty,  of  meager  attainment,  which  he  is  to 
force,  and  which  he  must  learn  will  yield  only  to  the  steady 
push  of  industry  and  unrelaxed  training.  These  barriers 
are  the  provision^  of  providence  for  keeping  him  at  his  top- 
most level  and  for  getting  out  of  him  all  there  is  in  him. 
Goethe  well  says:  'Everything  that  frees  our  spirit  without 
giving  us  the  mastery  of  our  spirit  is  pernicious.'  The  fact 


IN   HISTOKY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  245 

that  the  Negro  is  about  four  thousand  years  behind  the  white 
man  in  the  career  of  civilization,  is  a  limitation  he  must 
recognize  about  him.  But  this  should  be  a  source  of  inspira- 
tion. All  the  accumulations  of  history  which  have  been 
made  through  the  battles  and  strife  of  the  ages  he  finds  him- 
self in  touch  with  without  a  fight.  That  these  vast  stores 
of  accumulated  human  gain  are  above  him,  and  have  been 
stored  up  without  his  aid  or  co-operation,  furnishes  him  an 
altitude  up  which  he  has  the  pleasure  of  climbing.  A  poor 
man  rescued  from  slow  death  should  not,  upon  coming  to 
consciousness  and  life,  be  unhappy  because  he  finds  himself 
poor  in  comparison  with  those  who  rescued  him.  He  should 
be  delighted  at  the  opportunity  of  breathing  and  acting.  The 
Negro  just  rescued  from  slavery  worse  than  death  in  Africa, 
and  from  slavery  better  for  him,  while  it  lasted,  than  freedom 
in  America,  should  not  sympathize  with  himself  and  com- 
miserate himself  because  of  the  respects  in  which  he  is  not 
?qual  to  those  who  have  been  wrestling  with  the  problems  of 
civilized  existence  for  thousands  of  years  before  he  was  born 
to  civilization.  He  should  rejoice  at  the  privilege  of  just 
living  and  breathing  and  having  his  being  in  an  enlightened 
Christian  country.  The  Negro  has  not  made  quite  enough 
of  the  fact  that  he  is  alive  in  the  midst  of  the  greatest  gov- 
ernment the  world  ever  saw.  He  has  been  looking  at  himself 
too  much  from  the  standpoint  of  the  white  man  in  America 
and  not  enough  from  the  standpoint  of  the  black  man  in 
Africa.  There  is  not  a  poor  white  man  among  us,  measur- 
ing all  things  from  the  purely  worldly  standpoint,  but  can 
work  himself  to  the  boiling  point  of  misery  by  looking  at 
himself  from  the  standpoint  of  privilege  enjoyed  by  an  Astor 
with  his  millions,  his  yachts  and  his  mansions. 

"The  Negroes  have  been  too  much  inclined  to  gjird  at  their 
limitations  of  position  and  gifts,  and  have  placed  too  much 
hope  in  outside  amendments  to  the  constitution  and  civil 
rights  bills  to  redress  their  inequalities.  The  stoic  Kpictetug, 
though  a  slave,  did  not  cry  out  against  his  limitations,  but 


246  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

got  even  with  his  master  and  everybody  else  by  writing  his 
discourses,  and  afterwards  had  emperors  for  his  disciples. 
'Against  the  superiority  of  another,'  says  Goethe,  'there  is  no 
remedy  but  love.'  Against  the  superiority  of  the  white  man 
under  slavery,  the  Negro  found  a  remedy  in  loving  him.  This 
gave  him  a  simplicity  and  beauty  of  character;  and  now  un- 
der freedom,  he  will  find  the  only  remedy  against  any  supe- 
riority with  which  he  meets,  to  be  love;  this  will  insure  sim- 
plicity and  beauty  of  character  again.  While  the  Negro  is  to 
work  out  his  own  destiny,  it  is  the  solemn  duty  of  the  white 
man  who  brought  him  by  force  to  this  country,  to  help  him. 
And  first  of  all  he  must  have  the  sympathy  and  love  of  the 
white  man.  These  are  not  to  be  exhausted  in  words  and  theo- 
ries. There  have  been  enough  theories,  kindly  and  Christian, 
about  the  Negro  since  the  war,  had  they  been  practical,  not 
only  to  have  given  to  every  one  of  them  in  the  South,  forty 
acres  of  land  and  a  mule,  but  a  life  of  the  most  rosy  com- 
pleteness. It  has  taken  the  colored  man  a  third  of  a  century 
to  learn  that  fine  theories  do  not  help  him.  What  the  Negro 
needs  more  than  anything  else  today  is  -fair  treatment  by  the 
great  industrial  classes  of  the  country. 

*  'There  are  forty  thousand  Negroes  in  St.  Louis,  and  among 
them  many  first-class  carpenters  and  brick-masons,  yet  be- 
cause of  their  color,  they  are  excluded  from  work  on  all  the 
great  buildings,  in  all  the  great  machine  shops,  and  from  all 
the  main  trunk  lines  of  legitimate  industry.  They  are  still 
permitted  to  break  rock  in  the  streets,  to  dig  ditches,  to  clean 
out  sewers,  to  drive  drays,  hacks  and  coal  wagons,  but  from 
all  higher  grades  of  work,  which  call  for  skill,  and  which 
command  better  wages,  they  are  as  absolutely  shut  out  as 
though  they  were  not  human  beings.  Laboring  men  have  a 
perfect  right  to  organize  themselves  into  brotherhoods  and 
unions  for  their  protection,  and  for  the  advancement  of  their 
interests.  There  is  not  any  doubt  but  that  they  have  lifted 
themselves  and  their  labor  to  a  higher  plane  through  organ- 
ization. But  it  is  not  right  to  exclude  men  from  the  unions 


77V    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  247 

on  account  of  color.  The  right  of  the  Negro  to  live  is  cer- 
tainly inalienable,  but  how  can  he  live  and  support  his  fam- 
ily if  he  is  not  given  a  fair  opportunity  along  with  other 
men,  to  work  anywhere  and  in  any  line  of  industry  for  which 
he  qualifies  himself?  The  Negro  is  entitled  to  absolute  in- 
dustrial equality.  It  must  be  remembered  that  he  did  not 
just  arrive  on  the  shores  of  America  yesterday,  and  were  he 
a  new-comer,  the  right  to  work  anywhere  would  still  be  his. 
But  the  Negro  has  been  here  ever  since  1620 — two  hundred 
and  eighty-one  years.  He  cleared  most  of  the  forests  in  the 
Southern  States.  He  produced  the  cotton  by  the  sale  and 
manufacture  of  which  has  come  much  of  the  wealth  of  this 
country.  He  produced  the  cane  from  which  the  laboring 
men  have  been  sweetening  their  coffee  for  two  hundred  years. 
He  produced  the  syrup  which  has  been  doubling  and  quad- 
rupling the  value  of  waffles  and  pan-cakes  which  the  labor- 
ing men  have  been  enjoying  at  breakfast  for  a  couple  of 
centuries.  He  should  not  be  treated  as  an  alien  and  a 
foreigner  by  labor  unions,  for  he  is  less  a  foreigner  than  al- 
most any  other  class  of  people.  If  anybody  is  native  and  to 
the  manor  born,  he  is.  We  owe  it  not  only  to  the  Negro,  but 
to  ourselves  to  give  him  the  same  opportunity  to  work  that  is 
enjoyed  by  the  white  man.  I  am  a  Southerner,  and  have  all 
the  feelings  common  to  Southern  people  with  reference  to 
Negro  social  equality.  But  Southern  people  have  no  op- 
position to  Negro  industrial  equality.  They  believe  in  it. 
After  an  address  delivered  at  the  'Current  Topics  Club'  of  the 
Pilgrim  Congregational  Church,  some  weeks  ago,  on  the  sub- 
ject of  the  Negro's  future,  a  committee  of  Negroes  represent- 
ing the  leading  colored  interests  of  the  city  called  at  my  house 
to  express  the  thanks  of  the  colored  people  of  St.  Louis  to 
me  for  the  address  I  delivered.  As  they  were  intelligent 
Negroes,  I  embraced  the  opportunity  to  get  all  the  informa- 
tion I  could  about  the  present  conditions  of  the  Negro  in  this 
city.  I  was  simply  amazed  at  what  I  learned.  No  one  who 
has  not  paid  attention  to  the  question,  can  have  any  proper 


248  -     THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

conception  of  the  difficulties  with  which  Negroes  right  here  in 
our  midst  are  confronted  today.  The  most  pathetic  aspect 
of  the  whole  Negro  problem  is  found  in  the  gradual  closing 
against  him  of  all  the  leading  industries.  This  takes  from 
him  the  stimulus  of  qualifying  himself  for  work.  He  is 
thrown  back  into  a  life  of  idleness,  or  else  is  shut  up  for  the 
means  of  subsistence  to  odd  jobs,  or  such  small  tasks  here 
and  there  as  he  may  find  to  do.  He  has  no  way  of  bringing 
his  wrongs  to  the  consideration  of  the  public.  We  can  hardly 
bring  ourselves  to  realize  how  pitiable  his  condition  is,  in 
view  of  the  industrial  inequalities  which  have  been  gathering 
against  him  during  the  last  quarter  of  a  century.  He  is  the 
nation's  ward.  The  most  bloody  war  ever  waged  between 
civilized  States  was  continued  for  four  long  years  to  give  him 
his  freedom.  Billions  of  dollars  were  spent  in  his  behalf. 
Billions  more  have  been  spent  since  the  war  in  paying  pen- 
sions to  old  soldiers  who  fought  to  give  him  his  freedom. 
The  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  holds  its  great  annual 
reunion  every  year,  and  the  most  thrilling  and  inspiring 
thought  that  comes  to  them  on  these  great  occasions  is  that 
they  knocked  the  shackles  from  the  limbs  of  four  millions  of 
slaves.  And  yet  this  man  who  has  cost  the  country  more 
lives  and  more  money  than  any  other  man  ever  cost  any 
country  in  all  history,  stands  among  us  in  the  pitiable  plight 
of  being  debarred  from  every  great  line  of  handicraft. 
There  is  not  a  Pole  or  Scandinavian  just  landed  in  America 
yesterday,  however  full  his  head  may  be  of  anarchy,  and  his 
heart  of  enmity  to  the  government,  but  enjoys  opportunities 
we  deny  to  our  Negroes,  who  naturally  love  the  government, 
and  who  have  been  here  nearly  three  hundred  years,  and  who 
have  never  produced  an  anarchist  in  all  history.  The  glory 
of  freeing  the  slaves  will  depart  from  the  Grand  Army  of  the 
Republic,  and  from  the  States  which  remained  true  to  the 
Union  if  they  permit  them,  because  of  want  of  fair  opportu- 
nities to  work  enjoyed  by  others,  to  enslave  themselves  again 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  249 

by  vices  cradled  in  idleness  into  which  they  have  been  un- 
justly driven. 

.  "One  other  interesting  fact  about  the  Negro  needs  to  be 
carefully  weighed  and  considered  by  those  who  desire  to  assist 
him  in  working  out  his  destiny,  and  that  is  the  vast  stores 
of  religious  raw  material  that  are  lying  in  the  depths  of  his 
nature.  There  are  deposits  here  which  run  back  over  thou- 
sands of  years,  covering  much  of  his  lonely,  fear-beset  life  in 
the  midst  of  the  deep,  dark,  lion-and-tiger-haunted  forests 
of  Africa.  This  is  the  most  wonderful  and  immense  asset 
of  the  Negro's  life.  Through  this  side  of  himself  he  is  to 
find  his  power  and  his  mission  in  the  world.  He  as  little 
understands  himself  here  as  others  understand  him.  But  all 
who  have  seen  the  Negroes  in  their  great  meetings  have 
recognized  the  religious  element  as  the  deepest  and  most 
important  in  their  nature.  It  is  mysterious .  and  impene- 
trable and  beyond  analysis,  but  its  weird  presence  no  one 
can  doubt.  Great  congregations  come  under  its  spell  and 
are  held  as  one  palpitating  mass  as  if  clasped  together  by  an 
unseen  power.  The  music  through  which  they  seek  to  give 
expression  to  their  religious  feelings  is  the  most  wonderful 
ever  heard  and  touches  the  soul.  There  are  intimations 
of  vast  storms,  of  wide-spreading  plains,  of  mountains  of  the 
moon,  of  struggles  with  wild  beasts  in  the  dark  woods,  long 
rivers  like  the  Nile,  of  the  gold  coast  with  its  awful  idolatry. 
The  influence  of  this  music  is  felt  as  much  by  the  cultivated 
as  the  uncultivated.  Rev.  Dr.  Henry  M.  Field  telephoned 
me  one  morning  in  Atlanta  to  meet  him  at  the  hotel  and 
accompany  him  to  Spellman's  Seminary.  This  is  a  school 
built  by  John  D.  Rockefeller  for  the  education  of  colored 
girls.  There  were  eight  hundred  students  in  the  institution 
at  the  time.  Announcing  ourselves,  the  principal  brought 
the  whole  school  into  the  chapel.  Doctor  Field  wanted  to 
hear  them  sing.  They  began  with  regulation  Sunday- 
school  songs,  and  Doctor  Field  was  not  much  impressed, 
though  they  sang  as  well  as  others.  I  asked  the  principal 


250  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION. 

to  have  them  give  us  some  regular  Negro  music.  They  did 
not  like  this,  for  it  has  been  the  effort  of  the  educated 
Negroes  to  get  as  far  from  what  is  native  and  peculiar  to 
themselves  as  possible.  But  some  one  in  the  audience 
moaned  or  intoned  all  alone  a  line  of  'Swing  low,  sweet 
chariot.'  She  was  joined  by  another,  then  they  fell  in  by 
fours  and  eights,  until  the  whole  eight  hundred  were  giving 
us  the  most  weird  and  affecting  music  to  which  one  ever 
listened.  'I  looked  up  the  road  and  what  did  I  see  a-coming 
for  to  carry  me  home;  a  band  of  angels  a-coming  after  me, 
coming  for  to  carry  me  home;  swing  low,  sweet  chariot, 
coming  for  to  carry  me  home . '  The  great  organist  at  Luzerne , 
Switzerland,  never  had  more  success  in  seemingly  pulling 
down  out  of  the  clouds,  through  his  instrument,  real  storms 
with  thunder  and  lightning  and  hail  and  wind  and  rain  than 
these  singers,  with  their  voices,  had  in  seeming  to  fill  the  air 
with  real  chariots — swinging  low,  down  from  the  sky,  and 
with  real  hands  of  angels  coming  down  every  road  leading 
to  the  chapel. 

"The  effect  on  the  distinguished  traveler  and  editor,  Doctor 
Field,  was  remarkable.  The  fountains  of  the  great  deep  of 
his  emotions  were  broken  up,  and  he  was  weeping  like  a 
child.  In  a  short  address  after  the  service  of  song,  he  told 
the  students  that  they  made  a  great  mistake  in  seeking, 
through  vain  and  shallow  imitation  of  the  white  folks,  to  get 
themselves  educated  away  from  the  real  sources  of  power 
which  belonged  to  them  as  a  race. 

"Through  the  explorations  of  Livingstone  and  Stanley  a 
map  of  the  vast  objective  continent  of  Africa  has  been  made 
approximately  correct.  Its  rivers,  lakes,  mountains  and 
plains  have  been  partially  surveyed  and  named.  Now  a 
Livingstone  is  needed  to  explore  and  give  to  the  world  a  map 
of  the  immense  subjective  continent  of  religious  and  emo- 
tional Africa.  In  this  interior,  and  as  yet  untraveled,  un- 
known of  himself,  the  Negro  is  to  find  the  wealth  and  glory 
of  his  nature,  and  the  reason  of  his  existence  in  the  world. 


Noted  Newspaper  Correspondent. 


252 

When  the  explorer  returns  to  civilization  from  the  long  and 
difficult  journey  into  the  interior  continent. of  religious  and 
emotional  Africa,  he  will  be  able  to  give  to  the  Negro  a  geog- 
raphy of  himself,  from  which  he  can  see  his  place  and  his 
mission  in  the  world.  From  this  he  will  doubtless  learn 
that  he  has  been  in  training  for  nearly  three  hundred  years 
in  America,  in  order  that  he  may  be  ready  at  the  call  of  God 
to  go  forth  to  redeem  his  race  from  barbarism,  worse  than 
death,  in  Africa." 

VIII.    THE  NEGRO  AND  THE  SIGNS  OF  CIVILIZATION. 

BY  BOOKER  T.   WASHINGTON. 

There  are  certain  visible  signs  of  civilization  and  strength 
which  the  world  demands  that  each  individual  or  race  ex- 
hibit before  it  is  taken  seriously  into  consideration  in  the 
affairs  of  the  world.  Unless  these  visible  evidences  of  ability 
and  strength  are  forthcoming,  mere  abstract  talking  and 
mere  claiming  of  "rights"  amount  to  little.  This  is  a  prin- 
ciple that  is  as  broad  and  old  as  the  world  and  is  not  confined 
to  the  conditions  that  exist  between  the  white  man  and  the 
black  man  in  the  South.  We  may  be  inclined  to  exalt  intel- 
lectual acquirements  over  the  material,  but  all  will  acknowl- 
edge that  the  possession  of  the  material  has  an  influence  that 
is  lasting  and  unmistakable.  As  one  goes  through  onr  west- 
ern States  and  sees  the  Scandinavians  in  Minnesota,  for  ex- 
ample, owning  and  operating  nearly  one-third  of  the  farms 
in  the  State,  and  then  as  he  goes  through  one  of  the  cities  of 
Minnesota  and  sees  block  after  block  of  brick  stores  owned 
by  these  Scandinavians,  as  he  sees  factories  and  street  rail- 
ways owned  and  operated  by  these  same  people,  and  as  he 
notes  that  as  a  rule  these  people  live  in  neat,  well-kept  cot- 
tages, that  have  been  paid  for,  where  there  is  refinement 
and  culture,  on  nice  streets,  he  can't  help  but  have  confi- 
dence in  and  respect  for  such  people,  no  matter  how  he  has 
been  educated  to  feel  regarding  them.  The  material,  visible 
and  tangible  elements  in  this  case  teach  a  lesson  that  al- 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  253 

most  nothing  else  can.  It  may  be  said  in  opposition  to  this 
view  that  this  is  exalting  too  high  the  material  sT&e  of  life. 
I  do  not  take  this  view.  Let  us  see  what  is  back  of  this  ma- 
terial possession.  In  the  first  place,  the  possession  of  prop- 
erty is  an  evidence  of  mental  discipline,  mental  grasp  and 
control.  It  is  an  evidence  of  self-sacrifice.  It  is  an  evi- 
dence of  economy.  It  is  an  evidence  of  thrift  and  industry. 
It  is  an  evidence  of  fixedness  of  character  and  purpose.  It 
is  an  evidence  of  interest  in  pure  and  intelligent  government, 
for  no  man  can  possess  property  without  having  the  deepest 
interest  in  all  that  pertains  to  local  and  national  government. 
The  black  man  who  owns  $50,000  worth  of  property  in  a 
town  is  going  to  think  a  good  many  times  before  he  votes  for 
the  officer  who  will  have  the  liberty  of  taxing  his  property. 
If  he  thinks  that  a  colored  law-maker  will  use  his  taxing 
power  wrongfully,  he  is  not  likely  to  vote  for  him  merely  for 
the  sentimental  reason  that  he  is  a  black  man .  The  black  man 
who  owns  $50,000  worth  of  property  in  a  town  is  not  likely  to 
continue  to  vote  for  a  republican  law-maker  if  he  knows  that  a 
democratic  one  will  bring  lower  taxes  and  better  protection 
to  his  property.  Say  or  think  what  we  will  there  is  but  one 
way  for  the  Negro  to  get  up,  and  that  is  for  him  to  pay  the 
cost,  and  when  he  has  paid  the  cost — paid  the  price  of  his 
freedom — it  will  appear  in  the  beautiful,  well-kept  home,  in 
the  increasing  bank  account,  in  the  farm  and  crops  that  are 
free  from  debt,  in  the  ownership  of  railroad  and  municipal 
stocks  and  bonds,  in  the  well-kept  store,  in  the  well-fitted 
laundry,  in  the  absence  of  mere  superficial  display.  These 
are  a  few  of  the  universal  and  indisputable  signs  of  the  high- 
est civilization,  and  the  Negro  must  possess  them  or  be  de- 
barred. All  mere  abstract  talk  about  the  possibility  of  pos- 
sessing them  or  his  intention  to  possess  them  counts  for  lit- 
tle. He  must  actually  possess  them,  and  the  only  way  to 
possess  them  is  to  possess  them.  From  every  standpoint  of 
interest  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Negro  himself,  and  the  duty  of 
the  Southern  white  man  as  well  as  the  white  man  in  the 


254  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

» 

North,  to  see  that  the  Negro  be  helped  forward  as  fast  as 
possible  towards  the  possession  of  these  evidences  of  civiliza- 
tion. How  can  it  best  be  done?  Where  is  the  beginning  to 
be  made?  It  can  be  done  by  the  Negro  beginning  right  now 
and  where  he  finds  himself.  What  I  am  anxious  for  is  for 
the  Negro  to  be  in  actual  possession  of  all  the  elements  of 
the  highest  civilization,  and  when  he  is  so  possessed  the  bur- 
den of  his  future  treatment  by  the  white  man  must  rest  upon 
the  white  man. 

I  repeat,  let  the  Negro  begin  right  where  he  is,  by  putting 
the  greatest  amount  of  intelligence  in  skill  and  dignity  into 
the  occupations  by  which  he  is  surrounded.  Let  him  learn 
to  do  common  things  in  an  uncommon  manner.  Whenever 
in  the  South,  for  example,  the  Negro  is  the  carpenter,  let 
him  realize  that  he  cannot  remain  the  carpenter  unless  peo- 
ple are  sure  that  no  one  can  excel  him  as  a  carpenter.  This 
black  carpenter  should  strive  in  every  way  possible  to  keep 
himself  abreast  of  the  best  woodwork  done  in  the  world.  He 
should  be  constantly  studying  the  best  journals  and  books 
bearing  on  carpentry.  He  should  watch  for  every  improve- 
ment in  his  line.  When  this  carpenter's  son  is  educated  in 
college  or  elsewhere,  he  should  see  that  his  son  studies  me- 
chanical and  architectural  drawing.  He  should  not  only 
have  his  son  taught  practical  carpentry,  but  should  see  that 
in  addition  to  his  literary  education,  he  is  a  first-class  archi- 
tect as  well — that,  if  possible,  he  has  an  idea  of  landscape 
gardening  and  house  furnishing.  In  a  word,  he  should  see 
that  his  son  knows  so  much  about  woodwork,  house  con- 
struction, and  everything  that  pertains  to  making  a  house 
all  that  it  should  be,  that  his  services  are  in  constant  de- 
mand. One  such  Negro  in  each  community  will  give  char- 
acter to  a  hundred  other  Negroes.  It  is  the  kind  of  effort 
that  will  put  the  Negro  on  his  feet.  What  I  have  said  of 
carpentry  is  equally  true  of  dozens  of  occupations  now  within 
the  Negro's  hands.  The  second  or  third  generation  of 
this  black  man  need  not  be  carpenters,  but  can  aspire  sue- 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  255 

cessfully  to  something  higher  because  the  foundation  has 
been  laid. 

It  is  not  only  the  duty  of  the  Negro  to  thus  put  himself 
in  possession  of  the  signs  of  civilization,  but  it  is  also  the 
plainest  duty  of  the  white  man,  North  and  South,  to  help  the 
Negro  to  do  so  in  a  more  generous  manner  than  ever  before. 
One- third  of  the  population  of  the  South  is  colored.  Igno- 
rance in  any  country  or  among  any  people  is  the  sign  of  pov- 
erty, crime  and  incompetency.  No  State  can  have  the  high- 
est civilization  and  prosperity  with  one-third  of  its  population 
down.  This  one-third  will  prove  a  constant  millstone  about 
the  neck  of  the  other  two-thirds.  Every  one-room  Negro 
cabin  in  the  South,  where  there  is  ignorance,  poverty  and 
stupidity,  is  an  adverse  advertisement  of  the  State,  the  bad 
effects  of  which  no  white  man  in  the  next  generation  can  es- 
cape. 

ix.   THE  NEGRO'S  PART  IN  THE  SOUTH'S  UPBUILDING. 

I  have  read  a  little  pamphlet,  written  by  a  well-educated 
colored  man,  Mr.  George  W.  Carver,  giving  the  result  of 
some  of  his  experiments  in  raising  sweet  potatoes  this  year. 
In  this  pamphlet,  this  colored  man  has  shown  in  plain, 
simple  language,  based  on  scientific  principles,  how  he  has 
raised  two  hundred  and  sixty-six  bushels  of  sweet  potatoes 
on  a  single  acre  of  common  land,  and  made  a  net  profit  of 
$121.  The  average  yield  of  sweet  potatoes  in  the  South, 
where  this  experiment  was  tried,  is  thirty-seven  bushels 
per  acre.  This  same  colored  man  is  now  preparing  to 
make  the  same  land  produce  five  hundred  bushels  of  po- 
tatoes. I  have  watched  this  experiment  with  a  good  deal  of 
interest.  The  thing  that  has  interested  me  most  regarding 
this  experiment  has  been  the  deep  interest  which  the  neigh- 
boring white  farmers  took  in  it.  I  do  not  believe  that  a 
single  one  of  the  dozens  of  white  farmers  who  visited  the 
field  to  see  the  unusual  yield  of  potatoes  ever  thought  of 
having  any  prejudice  or  feeling  against  this  colored  man 


256  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

because  his  education  had  enabled  him  to  make  an  unusual 
success  in  the  raising  of  potatoes.  On  the  other  hand,  there 
were  many  evidences  of  the  deepest  respect  for  this  colored 
man  and  gratitude  for  the  information  which  he  had  furnished. 

If  I  were  to  write  a  volume,  I  do  not  think  I  could  state 
the  case  of  the  Negro  more  strongly  than  this  illustration 
puts  it. 

I  am  fully  aware  of  all  the  disadvantages  to  which  the 
Negro  is  subjected.  Notwithstanding  all  this,  I  believe  I 
do  not  overestimate  matters  when  I  say  that  it  seldom  ever 
happens  in  history  that  a  race  has  such  an  opportunity  to 
make  itself  felt  in  the  upbuilding  of  a  country  as  is  now  true 
of  the  Negro  race,  especially  in  the  South.  I  feel  equally 
confident  in  saying  that  no  individual  or  race  that  makes 
itself  permanently  felt  in  the  building  of  a  country  is  long 
left  without  proper  reward  and  recognition.' 

The  most  important  problem  that  is  now  confronting  the 
Negro  and  the  Negro's  friends,  is  the  turning  of  the  force  of 
the  Negro's  education  in  that  direction  that  will  contribute 
most  effectually  toward  the  betterment  of  the  condition  of  the 
country  and  the  Negro  himself. 

Recurring  again  to  the  instance  of  the  colored  man  who 
made  his  education  felt  in  the  production  of  sweet  pota- 
toes, I  would  say  that  if  we  had  a  hundred  such  men  in  each 
county  in  the  South  there  would  be  no  race  problem  to 
discuss.  But  how  are  we  to  get  such  men?  In  the  first 
place,  those  interested  in  the  education  of  the  Negro  must 
begin  to  look  facts  and  conditions  in  the  face.  Too  great  a 
gap  has  been  left  between  the  Negro's  real  condition  and  the 
position  which  we  have  tried  to  fit  him  for  through  the  medium 
of  our  text-books.  We  overlook  in  many  cases  the  long 
years  of  schooling  in  experience  and  discipline  that  any  race 
must  have  before  it  can  get  the  greatest  amount  of  good  out 
of  the  text-book  matter  that  has  been  given  the  black  man 
Much  that  the  Negro  has  studied  presupposes  conditions 
that  do  not  as  yet  exist  in  his  case.  I  do  not  want  to  be 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  257 

misunderstood.  I  favor  the  highest  and  most  thorough  de- 
velopment of  the  Negro's  mind.  No  race  can  accomplish 
anything  till  its  mind  is  awakened.  But  the  weak  point 
has  been  in  the  past,  in  too  many  cases,  between  the  Negro's 
educated  brains  and  his  opportunity  or  manner  of  earning 
his  daily  living.  There  has  been  almost  no  thought  of  con- 
necting the  educated  brain  with  the  educated  hand.  The  ed- 
ucation of  the  Negro,  in  too  many  cases,  has  presumed  that  he 
had  years  of  wealth,  culture  and  even  luxury  behind  him,  just 
as^is  true  of  New  England.  Kven  Mr.  Cornelius  Vanderbilt, 
with  his  millions  behind  him,  finds  it  necessary  to  put  his 
son  into  a  machine  shop,  and  thus  connect  his  brain-training 
with  something  that  is  vital  and  practical.  If  this  is  true 
of  the  Vanderbilts,  should  it  not  be  a  thousandfold  more 
true  of  the  Negro  in  his  present  condition?  Kducation 
of  the  head  increases  wants.  Unless  the  hands  are  educated 
at  the  same  time,  so  as  to  supply  these  increased  wants,  in  too 
many  cases  you  will  have  an  individual  who  is  of  little  benefit 
to  society. 

But,  to  return  more  directly  to  my  subject,  I  would  say 
without  hesitation  that,  judging  by  what  I  have  experienced 
and  observed,  the  best  way  for  the  Negro  to  contribute  toward 
the  building  lip  of  the  South  and  his  own  welfare,  is  for  him 
to  turn  the  force  of  his  education,  during  the  next  fifty  years, 
very  largely  in  the  direction  of  scientific  and  industrial 
training,  in  connection  with  moral  and  religious  training. 
It  is  almost  a  crime,  in  many  cases,  to  take  young  men  from 
the  farm,  or  from  a  farming  district,  and  educate  them,  as  is 
often  done,  in  every  other  subject  except  agriculture — the 
one  subject  that  they  should  know  the  most  about.  The 
result  is  that  the  young  man,  instead  of  being  educated  to 
love  agriculture,  is  educated  out  of  sympathy  with  it;  and 
instead  of  returning  to  his  old  father's  farm,  after  leaving 
college,  and  showing  him  how  to  raise  more  produce  with 
less  labor,  the  young  man  is  often  tempted  to  go  into  the 
city  or  town  to  live  by  his  wits. 


258  THE    NEGRO    7Ar    REVELATION. 

In  most  parts  of  the  South  the  Negro  has  the  labor  in  his 
possession,  but  he  will  not  hold  it  unless  he  is  taught  to  put 
brains  and  skill  into  the  common  occupations  that  are  about 
him,  and  at  the  same  time  to  dignify  common  labor. 

In  most  of  thes  cities  of  the  South  the  Negro  can  be  an 
architect,  a  contractor,  a  builder  and  a  brickmaker;  and  what 
is  true  of  these  callings  is  true  of  any  number  of  other  occu- 
pations— for  women  as  well  as  men. 

Whenever  a  black  man  makes  himself  of  real  service  to 
a  community  or  State,  that  service  will  not  remain  un- 
recognized, as  is  the  case  of  the  man  who  raised  the  sweet 
potatoes.  If  our  people  enter  heartily,  in  a  whole-souled 
manner,  into  all  the  industrial  walks  of  life,  by  prepar- 
ing to  do  some  conscientious  work,  by  doing  something 
better  than  some  one  else  can  do  it,  they  will  not  only  make 
a  great  contribution  to  the  wealth  of  the  South,  but  they 
will  earn  the  gratitude  of  the  white  citizens  to  the  extent 
that  every  black  man  will  find  a  secure  place  in  the  hearts  of 
the  white  people  of  the  section. 

Not  only  this,  but  it  is  only  through  industrial  develop- 
ment that  the  Negro  can  promote  his  own  development.  I 
know  how  strong  the  temptation  is  to  say  that  what  the 
Negro  wants  to  have  emphasized  is  the  languages,  fine  arts 
and  the  various  professions.  These  are  very  well  for  a  few, 
but  for  the  great  mass  of  our  people  this  is  not  what  we  want 
in  this  generation.  The  best  way  to  promote  what  is  called 
"higher  education"  for  the  black  man  is  for  us  in  this  gen- 
eration to  throw  aside  all  nonsense,  all  non-essentials,  and 
begin  at  the  bottom  and  work  up  through  agriculture,  the 
trades,  domestic  science  and  household  economy.  In  this 
way  we  lay  a  material  foundation  for  our  children  and  grand- 
children to  get  the  greatest  benefit  out  of  abstract  education. 


COL  JAS.  H.  DEVEAUX. 
Collector   of   Customs,  Savannah,  Georgia. 


2(}0  THE    NEC  KG    IN    REVELATION, 

X.    THE  NEGRO  AND   HIS   RELATION   TO   THE   SOUTH. 

[Booker  T.  Washington's  Address  Before  the  Southern  Industrial  Convention 
at  Huntsville,  Alabama,  October  12,  1899.] 

"In  all  discussion  and  legislation  bearing  upon  the  presence 
of  the  Negro  in  America,  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  we 
are  dealing  with  a  people  who  were  forced  to  come  here  with- 
out their  consent  and  in  the  face  of  a  most  earnest  protest. 
This  gives  the  Negro  a  claim  upon  your  sympathy  and  gen- 
erosity that  no  other  race  can  possess.  Besides,  though 
forced  from  his  native  land  into  residence  in  a  country  that 
was  not  of  his  choosing,  he  has  earned  his  right  to  the  title 
of  American  citizen  by  obedience  to  the  law,  by  patriotism 
and  fidelity,  and  by  the  millions  which  his  brawny  arms 
and  willing  hands  have  added  to  the  wealth  of  this  country. 

"In  saying  what  I  have  today,  although  a  Negro  and  an 
ex-slave  myself,  there  is  no  white  man  whose  heart  is  more 
wrapped  up  in  every  interest  of  the  South  and  loves  ft  more 
dearly  than  is  true  of  myself.  She  can  have  no  sorrow  that 
»I  do  not  share;  she  can  have  no  prosperity  that  I  do  not 
rejoice  in;  she  can  commit  no  error  that  I  do.  not  deplore; 
she  can  take  no  step  forward  that  I  do  not  approve. 

"Different  in  race,  in  color,  in  history,  we  can  teach  the 
world  that,  although  thus  differing,  it  is  possible  for  us  to 
dwell  side  by  side  in  love,  in  peace  and  in  material  prosperity. 
We  can  be  one,  as  I  believe  we  will  be  in  a  larger  degree  in 
the  future,  in  sympathy,  purpose,  forbearance  and  mutual 
helpfulness.  Let  him  who  would  embitter,  who  would  bring 
strife  between  your  race  and  mine,  'be  accursed  in  his  basket 
and  his  store,  accursed  in  the  fruit  of  his  body  and  in  the 
fruit  of  his  land.'  No  man  can  plan  the  degradation  of 
another  race  without  being  himself  degraded.  The  highest 
test  of  the  civilization  of  any  race  is  its  willingness  to  extend 
a  helping  hand  to  the  less  fortunate. 

:'The  South  extends  a  protecting  arm  and  a  welcome  voice 
to  the  foreigner,  all  nationalities,  languages  and  conditions; 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  261 

but  in  this  I  pray  that  you  will  not  forget  the  black  man  at 
your  door,  whose  habits  you  know,  whose  fidelity  you  have 
tested.  You  may  make  of  others  larger  gatherers  of  wealth, 
but  you  cannot  make  of  them  more  law-abiding,  useful  and 
God-fearing  people  than  the  Negroes,  who  have  been  by  your 
side  for  three  centuries,  and  whose  toil  in  forest,  field  and 
mine  has  helped  to  make  the  South  the  land  of  promise  and 
glorious  possibility. 

"If  the  South  is  to  go  forward  and  not  stand  still,  if  she  is 
to  reach  the  highest  reward  from  her  wonderful  resources  and 
keep  abreast  of  the  progress  of  the  world,  she  must  reach 
that  point,  without  needless  delay,  where  she  will  not  be 
continually  advertising  to  the  world  that  she  has  a  race  ques- 
tion to  settle.  We  must  reach  that  point  where  at  every 
election,  from  the  choice  of  a  magistrate  to  that  of  a  governor, 
the  decision  will  not  hinge  upon  a  discussion  or  a  revival  of 
the  race  question.  We  must  arrive  at  the  period  where  the 
great  fundamental  questions  of  good  roads,  education  of 
farmers,  agricultural  and  mineral  development,  manufactur- 
ing and  industrial  and  public  school  education  will  be,  in  a 
large  degree,  the  absorbing  topics  in  our  political  campaigns. 
But  that  we  may  get  this  question  from  among  us,  the  white 
man  has  a  duty  to  perform;  the  black  man  has  a  duty  to 
perform.  No  question  is  ever  permanently  settled  until  it  is 
settled  in  the  principles  of  highest  justice.  Capital  and  law- 
lessness will  not  dwell  together.  The  white  man  who  learns 
to  disregard  the  law  when  a  Negro  is  concerned,  will  soon 
disregard  it  when  a  white  man  is  concerned. 

.         .         .         .         •          •         .         .         .         .         .• 

"For  years  all  acknowledge  that  the  South  has  suffered 
from  the  low  price  of  cotton  because  of  over-production. 
The  economic  history  of  the  world  teaches  that  an  igno- 
rant farming  class  means  a  single  crop,  and  that  a  single 
crop  means,  too  often,  low  prices  from  over-production  or 
famine  from  under-production.  The  Negro  constitutes  the 


262  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

principal  farming  class  of  the  South.  So  long  as  the  Negro 
is  ignorant  in  head,  unskilled  in  hand,  unacquainted  with 
labor-saving  machinery,  so  long  will  he  confine  himself  to  a 
single  crop,  and  over-production  of  cotton  will  result.  So 
long  as  this  is  true  you  will  be  bound  in  economic  fetters; 
you  will  be  hugging  the  bear  while  crying  for  some  one  to 
help  you  let  go.  Every  man,  black  and  white,  in  the  South, 
with  his  crop  mortgaged,  in  debt  at  the  end  of  the  year, 
buying  his  meat  from  Iowa,  his  corn  from  Illinois,  his  shoes 
from  New  York,  his  clothing  from  Pennsylvania,  his  wagon 
from  Indiana,  his  plow  from  Massachusetts,  his  mule  from 
Missouri,  his  coffin  from  Ohio,  every  one  who  is  thus  situated 
is  a  citizen  who  is  not  producing  the  highest  results  for  his 
State.  It  is  argued  that  the  South  is  too  poor  to  educate 
such  an  individual  so  as  to  make  him  an  intelligent  producer. 
I  reply  that  the  South  is  too  poor  not  to  educate  such  an  in- 
dividual. 

"Ignorance  is  manyfold  more  costly  to  tax-payers  than 
intelligence.  Every  black  youth  that  is  given  this  training 
of  hand  and  strength  of  mind,  so  that  he  is  able  to  grasp 
the  full  meaning  and  responsibility  of  the  meaning  of  life, 
so  that  he  can  go  into  some  forest  and  turn  the  raw  material 
into  wagons  and  buggies,  becomes  a  citizen  who  is  able  to 
add  to  -the  wealth  of  the  State  and  to  bear  his  share  of  the 
expenses  of  educational  government.  Do  you  suggest  that 
this  cannot  be  done?  I  answer  that  it  is  being  done  every 
day  at  Tuskegee,  and  should  be  duplicated  in  a  hundred 
places  in  every  Southern  State.  This  I  take  to  be  the  'White 
Man's  Burden'  just  now — no,  no,  not  his  burden,  but  his 
privilege,  his  opportunity  to  give  the  black  man  sight,  to 
give  him  strength,  skill  of  hand,  light  of  mind  and  honesty 
of  heart.  Do  this,  my  white  friends,  and  I  will  paint  you 
a  picture  that  shall  represent  the  future,  partly  as  the  out- 
come of  this  industrial  convention,  and  will  represent  the 
land  where  your  race  and  mine  must  dwell. 

"Fourteen  slaves  brought  into  the  South  a  few  centuries 


tN   HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  263 

ago,  in  ignorance,  superstition  and  weakness,  are  now  a  free 
people,  multiplied  into  eight  millions.  They  are  surrounded, 
protected,  encouraged,  educated  in  hand,  heart  and  head, 
given  the  full  protection  of  the  law,  the  highest  justice  meted 
out  to  them  through  courts  and  legislative  enactments.  They 
are  stimulated  and  not  oppressed,  made  citizens  and  not 
aliens,  made  to  understand  by  word  and  act  that,  in  propor- 
tion as  they  show  themselves  worthy  to  bear  responsibilities, 
the  greater  opportunities  will  be  given  them.  I  see  them 
loving  you,  trusting  you,  adding  to  the  wealth,  the  intelli- 
gence, the  renown  of  each  Southern  Commonwealth.  In 
turn,  I  see  you  confiding  in  them,  ennobling  them,  beckoning 
them  on  to  the  highest  success,  and  we  have  all  been  made 
to  appreciate  in  full  that — 

"The  slave's  chain  and  the  master's  alike  are  broken, 
The  one  curse  of  the  race  held  both  in  tether; 
They  are  rising,  all  are  rising, 
The  black  and  white  together. ' ' ' 

XI.     "THE  ANCIENT  GOVERNOR. " 

An  illustration  of  the  respect  and  consideration  with  which 
worthy  Negroes  are  treated  by  Kentuckians  is  furnished  by 
.the  story  of  Daniel  Clark,  as  related  in  Thompson's  "Young 
People's  History  of  Kentucky."  When  Gov.  James  Clark 
came  to  Frankfort  (1836)  to  assume  the  duties  of  his  office 
he  had  with  him  as  a  body-servant  a  Negro  man,  Daniel, 
who,  many  years  before,  had  been  brought  by  slave-dealers 
from  Africa  to  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  and  afterward 
came  into  the  possession  of  the  Clark  family  in  Kentucky. 
He  was  old  enough  when  bought  or  captured  in  his  native 
country  to  note  the  incidents  of  the  ocean  voyage,  which  he 
remembered  distinctly  during  his  long  life.  On  coming  to 
Frankfort  he  was  employed  about  the  governor's  mansion 
and  the  executive  office,  and  for  thirty-six  years,  through  all 
the  changes  of  administration,  he  continued  in  this  service, 

and  came  to  be  known  as  the  "Ancient  Governor."     On  the 
17 


264  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION. 

27th  of  January,  1872,  the  Senate  of  Kentucky  passed  a  bill 
by  a  majority  of  thirty  out  of  thirty-four  votes  cast,  giving 
him  a  pension  of  $12.50  per  month  for  life,  on  the  ground 
that  he  was  then,  in  the  language  of  the  bill,  "a  very  old  and 
infirm  man,  not  able  to  work  or  to  perform  the  full  duties  of 
said  office  any  longer,  and  as  an  evidence  of  the  appreciation 
in  which  Kentucky  holds  his  faithfulness  and  honesty, 
and  of  her  unwillingness  that  he  shall  want  for  a  support." 
Pending  the  consideration  of  the  bill  by  the  House  he  died; 
and  the  legislature  passed  a  joint  resolution,  February  17th, 
commending  him  as  "a  notable  example  to  all  men,  white 
or  black,  of  industry,  sobriety,  courtesy  according  to  his 
station,  and  integrity  in  office." 


CHAPTER  X. 

INDUSTRIAL  TRAINING  AND  NEGRO  DEVELOPMENT. 
I.   ADDRESS  BY  BOOKER  T.  WASHINGTON. 

"OINCK  the  war  no  one  subject  has  been  more  misunder- 
*'-'  stood  than  that  of  the  object  and  value  of  industrial  edu- 
cationfor  the  Negro.  To  begin  with,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind 
that  the  condition  that  existed  in  the  South  immediately 
after  the  war,  and  that  now  exists,  is  a  peculiar  one,  without 
a  parallel  in  history.  This  being  true,  it  seems  to  me  that 
the  wise  and  honest  thing  is  to  make  a  study  of  the  actual 
condition  and  environment  of  the  Negro,  and  do  that  which 
is  best  for  him,  regardless  of  whether  the  same  thing  has 
been  done  for  another  race  in  exactly  the  same  way.  There 
are  those  among  our  friends  of  the  white  race,  and  those 
among  my  own  race,  who  assert  with  a  good  deal  of  earnest- 
ness, that  there  is  no  difference  between  the  white  man  and 
the  black  man  in  this  country.  This  sounds  very  pleasant 
and  tickles  the  fancy,  but  when  we  apply  the  test  of  hard, 
cold  logic  to  it,  we  must  acknowledge  that  there  is  a  differ- 
ence; not  an  inherent  one,  not  a  racial  one,  but  a  difference 
growing  out  of  unequal  opportunities  in  the  past. 

"If  I  might  be  permitted  to  even  seem  to  criticise  some  of 
the  educational  work  that  has  been  done  in  the  South,  I 
would  say  that  the  weak  point  has  been  in  a  failure  to  recog- 
nize this  difference. 

"Negro  education,  immediately  after  the  war,  in  most  cases, 
was  begun  too  nearly  at  the  point  where  New  England  educa- 
tion had  ended.  Let  me  illustrate:  One  of  the  saddest 
sights  I  ever  saw  was  the  placing  of  a  $300  rosewood  piano 
in  a  country  school  in  the  South  that  was  located  in  the 
midst  of  the  'Black  Belt.'  Am  I  arguing  against  the 

265 


266  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

teaching  of  instrumental  music  to  the  Negroes  in  that  com- 
munity? Not  at  all;  only  I  should  have  deferred  those 
music  lessons  about  twenty-five  years.  There  are  such 
pianos  in  thousands  of  New  England  homes,  but  behind 
the  piano  in  the  New  England  home  there  were  one  hun- 
dred years  of  toil,  sacrifice  and  economy;  there  was  the 
small  manufacturing  industry,  started  several  years  ago  by 
hand-power,  now  grown  into  a  great  business;  there  was  the 
ownership  in  land,  a  comfortable  home  free  from  debt,  a  bank 
account.  In  this  'Black  Belt'  community  where  this  piano 
went,,  four-fifths  of  the  people  owned  no  land,  many  lived  in 
rented  one-room  cabins,  many  were  in  debt  for  food  supplies, 
many  mortgaged  their  crops  for  the  food  on  which  to  live  and 
not  one  had  a  bank  account.  In  this  case  how  much  wiser 
it  would  have  been  to  have  taught  the  girls  in  this  commu- 
nity how  to  do  their  own  sewing,  how  to  cook  intelligently 
and  economically,  housekeeping,  something  of  dairying  and 
horticulture;  the  boys  something  of  farming  in  connection 
with  their  common  school  education,  instead  of  awakening  in 
these  people  a  desire  for  a  musical  instrument,  which  re- 
sulted in  their  parents  going  in  debt  for  a  third-rate  piano  or 
organ  before  a  home  was  purchased.  These  industrial  les- 
sons would  have  awakened  in  this  community  a  desire  for 
homes  and  would  have  given  the  people  the  ability  to  free 
themselves  from  industrial  slavery,  to  the  extent  that  most 
of  them  would  have  soon  purchased  homes.  After  the  home 
and  the  necessaries  of  life  were  supplied,  could  come  the  piano; 
one  piano  lesson  in  a  home  is  worth  twenty  in  a  rented  log 
cabin. 

"Only  a  few  days  ago  I  saw  a  colored  minister  preparing  his 
Sunday  sermon  just  as  the  New  England  minister  prepares 
his  sermon.  But  this  colored  minister  was  in  a  broken-down, 
leaky,  rented  log  cabin,  with  weeds  in  the  yard,  surrounded 
by  evidences  of  poverty,  filth  and  want  of  thrift.  This  min- 
ister had  spent  some  time  in  school  studying  theology. 
How  much  better  would  it  have  been,  to  have  had  this  min- 


IN   HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  267 

ister  taught  the  dignity  of  labor,  theoretical  and  practical 
farming  in  connection  with  his  theology,  so  that  he  could 
have  added  to  his  meager  salary  and  set  an  example  to  his 
people  in  the  matter  of  living  in  a  decent  house  and  correct 
farming — in  a  word,  this  minister  should  have  been  taught 
that  his  condition,  and  that  of  his  people,  was  not  that  of  a 
New  England  community,  and  he  should  have  been  so  trained 
as  to  meet  the  actual  needs  and  conditions  of  the  colored  peo- 
ple in  this  community. 

"God,  for  two  hundred  and  fifty  years,  was  preparing  the 
way  for  the  redemption  of  the  Negro  through  industrial  de- 
velopment. First,  He  made  the  Southern  white  man  do  bus- 
iness with  the  Negro  for  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  in  a  way 
that  no  one  else  has  done  business  with  him.  If  a  Southern 
white  man  wanted  a  house  or  a  bridge  built,  he  consulted  a 
Negro  mechanic  about  the  plan,  about  the  building  of  the 
house  or  the  bridge.  If  he  wanted  a  suit  of  clothes  or  a  pair 
of  shoes  made,  it  was  the  Negro  tailor  or  shoemaker  that  he 
talked  to.  Secondly,  every  large  slave  plantation  in  the 
South  was,  in  a  limited  sense,  an  industrial  school.  On 
these  plantations  there  were  scores  of  young  colored  men  and 
women  who  were  constantly  being  trained,  not  alone  as  com- 
mon farmers,  but  as  carpenters,  blacksmiths,  wheelwrights, 
plasterers,  brick-masons,  engineers,  bridge-builders,  cooks, 
dressmakers,  housekeepers,  etc.  I  would  be  the  last  to 
apologize  for  the  curse  of  slavery,  but  I  am  simply  stating 
facts.  This  training  was  crude  and  was  given  for  selfish 
purposes  and  did  not  answer  the  highest  purpose,  because 
there  was  an  absence  of  literary  training  in  connection  with 
that  of  the  hand.  Nevertheless,  this  business  contact  with 
the  Southern  white  man  and  the  industrial  training  received 
on  these  plantations,  put  us  at  the  close  of  the  war  into  pos- 
session of  all  the  common  and  skilled  labor  in  the  South. 
For  nearly  twenty  years  after  the  war,  except  in  one  or  two 
Ceases,  the  value  of  the  industrial  training  given  by  the  Ne- 
groes' former  masters  on  the  plantations  and  elsewhere  was 


268  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

overlooked.  Negro  men  and  women  were  educated  in  liter- 
ature, mathematics  and  the  sciences,  with  no  thought  of 
what  had  taken  place  on  these  plantations  for  two  and  a  half 
centuries.  After  twenty  years,  those  who  were  trained  as 
mechanics,  etc.,  during  slavery,  began  to  disappear  by  death, 
and  gradually  we  awoke  to  the  fact  that  we  had  no  one  to 
take  their  places.  We  had  trained  scores  of  young  men  in 
Greek,  but  few  in  carpentry,  or  mechanical  or  architectural 
drawing;  we  had  trained  many  in  Latin,  but  almost  none  as 
engineers,  bridge-builders  and  machinists.  Numbers  were 
taken  from  the  farm  and  educated,  but  were  educated  in 
everything  except  agriculture;  hence  they  had  no  sympathy 
with  farm  life  and  did  not  return  to  it. 

"The  place  made  vacant  by  old  Uncle  Jim,  who  was  trained 
as  a  carpenter  during  slavery,  and  who,  since  the  war,  had 
been  the  leading  contractor  and  builder  in  the  Southern  town, 
had  to  be  filled.  No  young  colored  carpenter  capable  of 
filling  Uncle  Jim's  place  could  be  found.  The  result  was 
that  his  place  was  filled  by  a  white  mechanic  from  the  North, 
or  from  Europe  or  from  elsewhere.  What  is  true  of  car- 
pentry and  house  building  in  this  case  is  true,  in  a  degree,  of 
every  line  of  skilled  labor,  and  is  becoming  true  of  common 
labor.  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  all  of  the  skilled  labor  has 
been  taken  out  of  the  Negro's  hands,  but  I  do  mean  to  say 
that  in  no  part  of  the  South  is  he  so  strong  in  the  matter 
of  skilled  labor  as  he  was  twenty  years  ago,  except,  possibly, 
in  the  country  districts  and  the  smaller  towns.  In  the  more 
Northern  of  Southern  cities,  such  as  Richmond  and  Balti- 
more, the  change  is  most  apparent,  and  it  is  being  felt  in 
every  Southern  city.  Wherever  the  Negro  has  lost  ground 
industrially  in  the  South,  it  is  not  because  there  is  a  prej- 
udice against  him  as  a  skilled  laborer  on  the  part  of  the 
native  Southern  white  man,  for  the  Southern  white  man 
generally  prefers  to  do  business  with  the  Negro  mechanic, 
rather  than  with  the  white  one;  for  he  is  accustomed  to  doing 
business  with  the  Negro  in  this  respect.  There  is  almost  no 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  269 

prejudice  against  the  Negro  in  the  South  in  matters  of  bus- 
iness, so  far  as  the  native  whites  are  concerned,  and  here  is 
the  entering  wedge  for  the  solution  of  the  race  problem. 
Where  the  white  mechanic  or  factory  operative  gets  a  hold, 
the  trades  union  soon  follows  and  the  Negro  is  crowded  to 
the  wall. 

"But  what  is  the  remedy  for  this  condition?  First,  it  is 
most  important  that  the  Negro  and  our  white  friends  honestly 
face  the  facts  as  they  are,  otherwise  the  time  will  not  be  far 
distant  when  the  Negro  in  the  South  will  be  crowded  to  the 
ragged  edge  of  industrial  life,  as  he  is  in  the  North.  There 
is  still  time  to  repair  the  damage  and  to  reclaim  what  we 
have  lost. 

"I  stated  in  the  beginning  that  the  industrial  education  for 
the  Negro  has  been  misunderstood.  This  has  been  chiefly 
because  some  have  gotten  the  idea  that  industrial  develop- 
ment was  opposed  to  the  Negro's  higher  mental  development. 
This  has  little  or  nothing  to  do  with  the  subject  under  dis- 
cussion; and  we  should  no  longer  permit  such  an  idea  to  aid 
in  depriving  the  Negro  of  the  legacy  in  the  form  of  skilled 
labor,  that  was  purchased  by  his  forefathers  at  the  price  of 
two  hundred  and  fifty  years  in  slavery.  I  would  say  to  the 
black  boy  what  I  would  say  to  the  white  boy:  get  all  the 
mental  development  that  your  time  and  pocket-book  will 
afford — the  more  the  better,  but  the  time  has  come  when  a 
larger  proportion,  not  all  (for  we  need  professional  men  and 
women),  of  the  educated  colored  men  and  women,  should  give 
themselves  to  industrial  or  business  life.  The  professional 
class  will  be  helped  in  proportion  as  the  rank  and  file  have  an 
industrial  foundation  so  that  they  can  pay  for  professional 
services.  Whether  they  receive  the  training  of  the  hand 
while  pursuing  their  academic  training  or  after  their  academic 
training  is  finished,  or  whether  they  will  get  their  literary 
training  in  an  industrial  school  or  college,  is  a  question  which 
each  individual  must  decide  for  himself;  but,  no  matter  how 
or  where  educated,  the  educated  men  and  women  must  come 


270  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

to  the  rescue  of  the  race  in  the  effort  to  get  and  hold  its  in- 
dustrial footing.  I  would  not  have  the  standard  of  mental 
development  lowered  one  whit,  for  with  the  Negro,  as  with  all 
races,  mental  strength  is  the  basis  of  all  progress;  but  I  would 
have  a  larger  proportion  of  this  mental  strength  reach  the 
Negro's  actual  needs  through  the  medium  of  the  hand.  Just 
now  the  need  is  not  so  much  for  common  carpenters,  brick- 
masons,  farmers  and  laundry- women  as  for  industrial  leaders; 
men  who,  in  addition  to  their  practical  knowledge,  can  draw 
plans,  make  estimates,  take  contracts;  those  who  understand 
the  latest  methods  of  truck  gardening  and  the  science  under- 
lying practical  agriculture;  those  who  understand  machinery 
to  the  extent  that  they  can  operate  steam  and  electric  laun- 
dries, so  that  our  women  can  hold  onto  the  laundry  work  in 
the  South  that  is  so  fast  drifting  into  the  hands  of  others  in 
the  large  cities  and  towns. 

"It  is  possible  for  a  race  or  an  individual  to  have  mental 
development  and  yet  be  so  handicapped  by  custom,  prejudice 
.  and  lack  of  employment  as  to  dwarf  and  discourage  the  whole 
life,  and  this  is  the  condition  that  prevails  among  my  race 
in  most  of  the  large  cities  of  the  North,  and  it  is  to  prevent 
this  same  condition  in  the  South  that  I  plead  with  all  the 
earnestness  of  my  heart.  Mental  development  alone  will  not 
give  us  what  we  want;  but  mental  development,  tied  to  hand 
and  heart  training,  will  be  the  salvation  of  the  Negro. 

"In  many  respects  the  next  twenty  years  are  going  to  be 
the  most  serious  in  the  history  of  the  race.  Within  this 
period  it  will  be  largely  decided  whether  the  Negro  is  going 
to  be  able  to  retain  the  hold  which  he  now  has  upon  the  in- 
dustries of  the  South,  or  whether  his  place  will  be  filled  by 
white  people  from  a  distance.  The  only  way  that  we  can 
prevent  the  industries  slipping  from  the  Negro  in  all  parts 
of  the  South,  as  they  have  already  in  certain  parts  of  the 
South,  is  for  all  the  educators,  ministers  and  friends  of  the 
Negro  to  unite  to  push  forward,  in  a  whole-souled  manner, 
the  industrial  or  business  development  of  the  Negro,  either 


IN   HISTORY,      AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  271 

in  school  or  out  of  school,  or  both.  Four  times  as  many 
young  men  and  women  of  my  race  should  be  receiving  in- 
dustrial training.  Just  now  the  Negro  is  in  a  position  to  feel 
and  appreciate  the  need  of  this  in  a  way  that  no  one  else  can. 
No  one  can  fully  appreciate  what  I  am  saying  who  has  not 
walked  the  streets  of  a  Northern  city  day  after  day,  seeking 
employment,  only  to  find  every  door  closed  against  him  on 
account  of  his  color,  except  along  certain  lines  of  menial 
service.  It  is  to  prevent  the  same  thing  taking  place  in  the 
South  that  I  plead.  We  may  argue  that  mental  development 
will  take  care  of  all  this.  Mental  development  is  a  good 
thing.  Gold  is  also  a  good  thing;  but  gold  is  worthless  with- 
out opportunity  to  make  it  touch  the  world  of  trade.  Education 
increases  an  individual's  wants  many  fold.  It  is  cruel  in  many 
cases  to  increase  the  wants  of  the  black  youth  by  mental  de- 
velopment alone,  without  at  the  same  time  increasing  his 
ability  to  supply  these  increased  wants  along  the  lines  at 
which  he  can  find  employment. 

"I  repeat  that  the  value  and  object  of  industrial  education 
has  been  misunderstood  by  many.  Many  have  had  the 
thought  that  industrial  training  was  meant  to  make  the 
Negro  work  much  as  he  worked  during  the  days  of  slavery. 
This  is  far  from  my  idea  of  it.  If  this  training  has  any  value 
for  the  Negro,  as  it  has  for  the  white  man,  it  consists  in 
teaching  the  Negro  how  rather  not  to  work,  but  how  to  make 
the  forces  of  nature — air,  water,  horse  power,  steam  and 
electric  power — work  for  him;  how  to  lift  labor  up  out  of  toil 
and  drudgery  into  that  which  is  dignified  and  beautiful.  The 
Negro  in  the  South  works,  and  he  works  hard;  but  his  lack 
of  skill,  coupled  with  ignorance,  causes  him  to  do  his  work 
in  the  most  costly  and  shiftless  manner,  and  this  keeps  him 
near  the  bottom  of  the  ladder  in  the  business  world.  I  repeat 
that  industrial  education  teaches  the  Negro  how  not  to  work . 
Let  him  who  doubts  this  contrast  the  Negro  in  the  South, 
toiling  through  a  field  of  oats  with  an  old-fashioned  reaper, 
with  a  white  man  on  a  modern  farm  in  the  West,  sitting  upon 


272  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION. 

j 

a  modern  'harvester,'  behind  two  spirited  horses,  with  an 
umbrella  over  him,  nsing  a  machine  that  cuts  and  binds  the 
oats  at  the  same  time — doing  four  times  as  much  work  as  the 
black  man  with  one-half  the  labor.  Let  us  give  the  black  man 
so  much  skill  and  brains  that  he  can  cut  oats  like  the  white 
man;  then  he  can  compete  with  him.  The  Negro  works  in 
cotton,  and  has  no  trouble  so  long  as  his  labor  is  confined  to 
the  lower  forms  of  work — the  planting,  the  picking  and  the 
ginning.  But  when  the  Negro  attempts  to  follow  the  bale 
of  cotton  up  through  the  higher  stages,  through  the  mill 
where  it  is  made  into  the  finer  fabrics,  where  the  larger  profit 
appears,  he  is  told  that  he  is  not  wanted.  The  Negro  can 
work  in  wood  and  iron,  and  no  one  objects  so  long  as  he  con- 
fines his  work  to  the  felling  of  trees  and  the  sawing  of  boards, 
to  the  digging  of  iron  ore  and  the  making  of  pig  iron;  but 
when  the  Negro  attempts  to  follow  his  tree  into  the  factory, 
where  it  is  made  into  chairs  and  desks  and  railway  coaches, 
or  when  he  attempts  to  follow  the  pig  iron  into  the  factory, 
where  it  is  made  into  knife-blades  and  watch-springs,  the 
Negro's  trouble  begins.  And  what  is  the  objection?  Simply 
that  the  Negro  lacks  skill,  coupled  with  brains,  to  the  extent 
that  he  can  compete  with  the  white  man,  or  that  when  white 
men  refuse  to  work  with  colored  men,  enough  skilled  and 
educated  colored  men  cannot  be  found  able  to  superintend 
and  man  every  part  of  any  large  industry,  and  hence,  for 
these  reasons,  we  are  constantly  being  barred  out.  The 
Negro  must  become  in  a  larger  measure  an  intelligent  pro- 
ducer as  well  as  consumer.  There  should  be  more  vital 
connection  between  the  Negro's  educated  brain  and  his  op- 
portunity of  earning  his  daily  living.  Without  more  atten- 
tion being  given  to  industrial  development,  we  are  likely  to 
have  an  over-production  of  educated  politicians — men  who 
are  bent  on  living  by  their  wits.  As  we  get  farther  away 
from  the  war  period,  the  Negro  will  not  find  himself  held  to 
the  Republican  party  by  feelings  of  gratitude.  He  will  feel 
himself  free  to  vote  for  any  party,  and  we  are  in  danger  of 


JOHN  P.  GREEN. 
Ex-Member  Ohio  Senate,  now  U.  S.  Stamp  Agent,  D.  C. 


274  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

having  the  vote  or  'influence'  of  a  large  proportion  of  the 
educated  black  men  in  the  market  for  the  highest  bidder, 
unless  attention  is  given  to  the  education  of  the  hand,  or  to 
industrial  development. 

• "  A  very  weak  argument  often  used  against  pushing  indus- 
trial training  for  the  Negro  is  that  the  Southern  white  man 
favors  it,  and,  therefore,  it  is  not  best  for  the  Negro.  Although 
I  was  born  a  slave,  I  am  thankful  that 'I  am  able  to  so  far 
rid  myself  of  prejudice  as  to  be  able  to  accept  a  good  thing, 
whether  it  comes  from  a  black  man  or  from  a  white  man,  a 
Southern  man  or  a  Northern  man.  Industrial  education  will 
not  only  help  the  Negro  directly  in  the  matter  of  industrial 
development,  but  it  will  help  in  bringing  about  more  satis- 
factory relations  between  him  and  the  Southern  white  man. 
For  the  sak£  of  the  Negro  and  the  Southern  white  man, 
there  are  many  things  in  the  relations  of  the  two  races  that 
must  soon  be  changed.  We  cannot  depend  wholly  upon 
abuse  or  condemnation  of  the  Southern  white  man  to  bring 
about  these  changes.  Bach  race  must  be  educated  to  see 
matters  in  a  broad,  high,  generous,  Christian  spirit;  we 
must  bring  the  two  races  together,  not  estrange  them.  The 
Negro  must  live  for  all  time  by  the  side  of  the  Southern 
white  man.  The  man  is  unwise  who  does  not  cultivate  in 
every  manly  way  the  friendship  and  good-will  of  his  next- 
door  neighbor,  whether  he  is  black  or  white.  I  repeat  that 
industrial  training  will  help  cement  the  friendship  of  the  two 
races.  The  history  of  the  world  proves  that  trade,  commerce, 
is  the  forerunner  of  peace  and  civilization  as  between  races 
and  nations.  We  are  interested  in  the  political  welfare  of 
Cuba  and  the  Sandwich  Islands  because  we  have  business 
interests  with  these  islands.  The  Jew  that  was  once  in 
about  the  same  position  that  the  Negro  is  today,  has  now 
complete  recognition,  because  he  has  entwined  himself  about 
America  in  a  business  or  industrial  sense.  Say  or  think 
what  we  will,  it  is  the  tangible  or  visible  element  that  is  go- 
ing to  tell  largely  during  the  next  twenty  years  in  the  solu- 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  275 

tion  of  the  race  problem.  Every  white  man  will  respect  the 
Negro  who  owns  a  two-story  brick  business  block  in  the  cen- 
ter of  town  and  has  $5,000  in  the  bank. 

"I  know  that  what  I  have  said  will  likely  suggest  the  idea 
that  I  have  put  stress  upon  the  lower  things  of  life — the  ma- 
terial; that  I  have  overlooked  the  higher  side — the  ethical 
and  religious.  I  do  not  overlook  or  undervalue  the  higher. 
All  that  I  advocate  in  this  article  is  not  as  an  end,  but  as  a 
means.  I  know  as  a  race  we  have  got  to  be  patient  in  the 
laying  of  a  firm  foundation,  that  our  tendency  is  too  often 
to  get  the  shadow  instead  of  the  substance,  the  appearance 
rather  than  the  reality*  I  believe  further  that  in  a  large 
measure  he  who  would  make  the  statesmen,  the  men  of  let- 
ters, the  men  for  the  professions  for  the  Negro  race  of  the 
future,  must  today,  in  a  large  measure,  make  the  intelligent 
artisans,  the  manufacturers,  the  contractors,  the  real  estate 
dealers,  the  land -owners,  the  successful  farmers,  the  mer- 
chants, those  skilled  in  domestic  economy.  Further,  I  know 
that  it  is  not  an  easy  thing  to  make  a  good  Christian  of  a 
hungry  man.  I  mean  that  just  in  proportion  as  the  race 
gets  a  proper  industrial  foundation — gets  habits  of  industry, 
thrift,  economy,  land,  homes,  profitable  work — in  the  same 
proportion  will  its  moral  and  religious  life  be  improved.  I 
have  written  with  a  heart  full  of  gratitude  to  all  religious 
organizations  and  individuals  for  what  they  have  done  for  us 
as  a  race,  and  I  speak  as  plainly  as  I  do  because  I  feel  that 
I  have  had  opportunity  in  a  measure  to  come  face  to  face 
with  the  enormous  amount  of  work  that  must  still  be  done 
by  the  generous  men  and  women  of  this  country  before  there 
will  be  in  reality,  as  well  as  in  name,  high  Christian  civil- 
ization among  both  races  in  the  South. 

"To  accomplish  this,  every  agency  now  at  work  in 
South  needs  reinforcement." 


276  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

II.     SPEECH    BY   PROF.    W.    H.    COUNCILL. 

The  following  address  on  Negro  development  and  the  im- 
portance of  training,  good  conduct  and  the  nse  of  opportuni- 
ties, was  delivered  by  Professor  Councill  at  the  Southern  In- 
dustrial Convention  in  Philadelphia,  June  13, 1901: 

"  Forty  years  ago  North  and  South  crossed  swords  over 
the  prostate  form  of  the  Negro  slave.  Today  North  and 
South,  singing  songs  of  peace  and  union,  welcome  the  free 
Negro  to  participate  in  the  industrial,  commercial  and  edu- 
cational development  of  our  country.  Forty  years  ago  I 
was  a  slave  boy  responsible  to  my  master.  Today  I  am  a 
free  man,  responsible  to  my  country  and  to  my  God  for  what 
I  do  with  my  freedom.  Forty  years  ago  I  could  have  brought 
to  you  only  the  prayers  of  a  few  Negroes  who  could  read, 
scattered  here  and  there  over  the  nation;  but  today  I  bring 
to  you  the  greetings  of  thousands  of  educated,  refined,  cul- 
tured Negroes,  engaged  in  all  the  professions  and  callings  of 
life,  and  three  millions  who  can  read  and  write.  Forty 
years  ago  I  could  have  brought  to  you  only  a  few  thousands 
of  dollars  owned  by  my  race  in  the  entire  country.  Today, 
I  thank  God,  I  bring  to  you  in  the  name  of  my  people 
270,000  homes  and  farms,  which,  together  with  other  prop- 
erty, reach  in  value  a  billion  dollars.  Forty  years  ago  I 
could  have  brought  to  you  not  a  single  Negro  school  in  the 
entire  South >  Today  I  bring  you  20,000  Negro  school- 
houses,  30,000  Negro  teachers  and  3,000,000  Negro  pupils 
treading  beneath  the  Stars  and  Stripes,  singing  freedom's 
song,  while  the  earth  quakes  beneath  their  industrious  tread 
and  the  heavens  answer  back  in  showers  of  blessings. 

"Whom  shall  I  thank  for  my  redemption  from  the  black- 
ness of  savage  night — an  hour  as  dark  as  the  brow  of  mid- 
night, as  black  as  the  hinges  of  hell?  By  the  ordering  of 
some  mysterious  power,  the  South  poured  into  4,000,000 
savages  industry  and  Christianity  and  prepared  them  for  the 
blessed  day  of  freedom.  Then,  by  the  ordering  of  a  still 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  277 

more  mysterious  Providence,  both  North  and  South  were 
called  upon  to  sacrifice  their  best  blood  and  spend  billions  of 
treasure  for  the  freedom  of  those  4,000,000  Christians  brought 
up  from  barbarism  through  the  school  of  slavery.  God  does 
not  pay  a  great  price  for  small  things,  and  in  His  own  good 
time  He  will  make  it  plain.  I  thank  the  entire  Anglo-Saxon 
race  for  my  contact  with  it.  If  at  some  points  it  was  cruel 
and  hard,  at  many  more  points  it  has  been  helpful  and  up- 
lifting to  my  people.  I  have  no  bitterness  in  my  heart 
toward  your  race.  I  have  only  blessings  for  you  and  yours. 
I  turn  back  only  a  few  years  to  view  the  resting-place  of  two 
noble  men.  Under  yon  wide-spreading  elm  rest  the  bones 
of  my  father,  and  by  his  side  rest  the  bones  of  your  father. 
The  ivy  creeps  around  and  clings  to  the  little  marble  slabs 
which  mark  their  graves.  The  violet  and  wild  rose  fill  the 
air  with  the  aroma  of  peace,  while  the  birds  sing  in  subdued 
and  mellow  notes.  Peace  reigns  there.  Cursed  be  the  man 
who  would  disturb  the  quietness  of  their  sacred  abode  by 
rattling  the  bones  of  hatred  and  contention:  cursed  be  the 
man  who  would  scatter  the  seeds  of  malice  and  strife  among 
the  descendants  of  those  peaceful  slumberers.  I  have  noth- 
ing but  blessings  for  North  and  South.  Tread  softly,  speak 
gently,  whisper  love,  for  a  kind  Confederate  master  slumbers 
here;  tread  lightly,  murmur  gently,  whisper  peace,  for  a 
noble  Union  soldier  sleeps  there.  Wake  them  not.  Let 
them  dream  on — dream  away  their  differences;  dream  out 
strife;  dream  in  peace  and  joy;  dream  in  union;  dream  in  a 
united  land  dedicated  to  freedom. 

"I  came  through  the  Richmond  slave  pen  to  this  platform 
upon  which  I  stand.  I  do  not  regret  the  hard  struggles  of 
my  life  and  the  bitter  experiences  necessary  to  my  growth, 
for,  after  all,  adversity  tests  and  develops  man.  It  should 
sweeten  his  nature  and  make  him  sympathize  with  his 
fellow-men.  God  sometimes  heaves  men  up  from  the  bot- 
tom of  the  unfortunate  masses  as  gold  is  thrown  up  and 
diamonds  brought  forth  by  volcanic  eruptions.,  Let  us  all 


si-o  THE  NEGRO  IN  REVELATION, 

who  toil  and  struggle  take  heart  and  labor  on.  Be  con- 
cerned about  only  one  thing,  and  that  is  how  to  be  a  useful 
and  helpful  man  in  the  world.  When  hungry  and  weary, 
darkness  all  around  me,  naked  and  bare,  in  the  midst  of 
these  trials,  when  a  small  boy,  I  walked  forth  one  night,  my 
eyes  turned  toward  the  stars  in  heaven,  my  only  witnesses. 
With  tears  flowing  down  my  black  cheeks,  my  little  hand 
upraised,  I  promised  God  that  if  He  would  help  me  to  be  a 
man  I  would  try  to  make  conditions  more  favorable  for  all 
other  little  boys  and  girls  and  young  people  in  the  world. 
It  was  a  great  promise,  but  I  have  tried  to  keep  it  without 
regard  to  race  or  color.  I  know  no  better  way  to  show  my 
love  to  God  than  to  render  this  service  to  my  fellow-man. 

"No  ten  millions  of  people  have  ever  enjoyed  better 
chances  for  material  progress  than  the  ten  millions  of  Ne- 
groes in  the  South  today.  Every  avenue  in  which  we  are 
capable  of  walking  is  open  to  us.  Now  and  then  there  are 
exceptions,  but  every  Negro  of  the  ten  millions  in  the  South 
can  get  work,  can  make  money,  and  can  save  it.  The  three 
great  civilizing,  refining  agencies — the  work-shop,  the  school- 
room, and  the  church — are  open  to  us.  Ten  millions  of  peo- 
ple in  the  childhood  of  development  never  before  in  all  the 
history  of  the  world  stood  face  to  face  with  so  great  opportu- 
nities and  possibilities  and  so  few  oppositions  as  confront  us 
in  the  South  today.  Our  few  troubles  are  only  the  pressures 
which  have  been  found  among  all  people  necessary  in  all 
ages  to  crystallize  racial  tendencies  into  sturdy  character. 

"The  statement  that  the  Negro  is  not  a  tax-payer  is  gen- 
erally accepted  as  truth,  without  a  challenge  from  his  best 
friends;  but  is  it  a  fact?  The  Negro  pays  taxes,  both  di- 
rectly and  indirectly.  To  say  that  people  who  do  such  a 
large  per  cent,  of  the  agricultural  labor  of  a  country,  paying 
rent  on  the  lands,  do  not  pay  taxes,  must  be  proven  by  some 
system  of  mathematics  not  yet  invented. 

"In  the  whole  country  (census  of  1890)  the  Negro  occu- 
pied 1,500,000  farms  and  homes,  He  owns  270,000  of 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  279 

them.  It  will  be  a  bold  man  who  will  assert  that  the  renters 
of  1,230,000  homes  and  farms  do  not  only  pay  the  tax,  but 
the  insurance  and  all  other  charges  upon  such  property. 
The  Negro  pays  without  a  murmur  his  proportion  of  the 
pension  tax  for  ex-Confederates — those  grand  men  who, 
leaving  their  footprints  in  blood  on  the  snow-covered  hills  of 
Virginia,  followed  Lee's  tattered  banners  down  to  Appomat- 
tox.  It  is  not  only  unjust  but  cruel  to  try  to  take  from  this 
young  race  those  honors  which  have  been  so  grandly  achieved 
by  honest  toil.  The  Negro  asks  the  races  in  superior  condi- 
tion not  to  stand  in  his  sunshine,  not  to  misrepresent  him, 
but  give  him  a  chance  to  use  his  good  right  arm  in  striking 
for  higher  civilization — only  a  chance  to  stand  or  fall  like 
other  men. 

"It  is  charged  that  the  nearly  two  hundred  colleges,  acad- 
emies, seminaries,  normal  and  industrial  schools  scattered 
over  the  South  since  the  war  have  not  made  the  Negro  bet- 
ter. If  that  is  so,  it  is  unwise  to  dedicate  another  building 
to  the  education  of  the  Negro;  but  the  charge  is  not  true. 
Crime  is  not  committed  because  of  education,  but  because  of 
the  lack  of  the  proper  kind  of  education.  Negro  criminals 
are  of  the  most  illiterate,  stupid  and  besotted  element.  They 
come  from  among  that  class  which  has  not  yet  been  reached 
by  the  process  of  education  and  true  civilization.  The  white 
South  has  acted  admirably,  the  North  has  given  grandly,  the 
Negro  has  done  well  for  himself;  yet  there  still  hovers  over 
us  a  black  cloud  of  ignorance  which  cannot  be  removed  by 
disfranchising  the  Negro  nor  by  any  injustice  or  oppression. 
This  nation  must  soon  or  late  adopt  measures  to  lift  up  its 
ignorant  masses. 

"I  am  now  collecting  statistics  by  which  it  is  shown  that 
the  larger  per  cent,  of  the  270,000  farms  and  homes  owned 
by  Negroes  are  the  property  of  Negroes  who  can  read  and 
write. 

"Let  us  examine  Negro  crime  as  shown  by  the  eleventh 

census: 

18 


280  t,  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION. 

Whites,  Negroes. 

In  all  prisons  in  the  United  States 57,310  24,272 

Rate  per  cent,  neither  read  nor  write 70.68  54. 13 

Rate  of  literacy,  read  and  write 86.58  39.11 

Per  cent,  with  trades 14.70  2.50 

Per  cent,  without  trades 67.65  90.41 

"It  will  be  observed  that  the  Negro  criminal  element  is 
about  thirty-three  to  10,000  of  the  Negro  population,  or 
24,272  for  the  whole  race  in  the  United  States.  It  is  admit- 
ted by  all  that  40  per  cent,  of  Negro  illiteracy  has  been 
wiped  out  since  freedom,  or  2,800,000  Negroes  out  of 
7,000,000  have  learned  to  read  and  write.  Of  the  24,272 
Negro  criminals,  54.13  per  cent.,  or  13,138,  can  neither 
read  nor  write;  so  in  2,800,000  Negroes  who  can  read  and 
write  there  are  11,134  criminals,  according  to  government 
statistics,  kept  by  the  men  who  make,  construe  and  execute 
all  laws  in  this  country.  Do  these  statistics  justify  the 
assertion,  born  of  ignorance,  that  education  is  injuring  the 
Negro  and  ruining  the  South? 

"The  compiler  of  the  eleventh  census  says:  'Of  juvenile 
criminals,  the  smallest  ratio  is  found  among  Negroes  under 
twenty  years  of  age.'  He  further  says  that  from  twenty  to 
twenty -nine  years  of  age  the  smallest  ratio  is  among  Negroes. 

"I  am  indebted  to  Hon.  Judson  W.  Lyons,  register  of  the 
United  States  Treasury,  for  the  following  statistics,  showing 
the  wonderful  influence  of  Negro  labor  in  the  commercial 
industries  of  the  world:  More  cotton  is  exported  from  the 
United  States  than  any  other  one  article.  In  the  last  ten 
/ears  30,000,000,000  pounds  of  cotton,  valued  at  $2,250,- 
000,000,  have  been  exported.  The  United  States  produces 
more  cotton  than  all  the  balance  of  the  world.  The  cotton 
manufacturers  of  Great  Britain,  Germany,  France,  Belgium 
and  Italy  depend  upon  our  cotton  exports.  Ten  years  ago 
$254,000,000  were  invested  in  cotton  manufactories,  employ- 
ing 221,585  operatives,  who  received  for  wages  $67,489,000 
per  annum.  The  South  produced  from  1880  to  1890  620,- 


JNO.  S    DURHAM. 
Ex- Minister  to  Port-au-Prince,   Hayti. 


282  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

000,000  bushels  of  corn,  73,000,000  bushels  of  wheat  and 
97,000,000  bushels  of  oats.  Negroes  perform  four-fifths  of 
the  labor  of  the  South.  Therefore  their  share  of  the  average 
annual  production  of  corn,  wheat,  oats  and  cotton  was 
$431,320,000  per  annum.  The  entire  cotton  acreage  of  the 
South  would  form  an  area  of  40,000  square  miles.  Negro 
labor  cultivates  32,000  square  miles  of  this  space. 

"Gentlemen,  is  it  wise  for  the  American  nation  to  under- 
value this  great  wealth-producing  element  of  its  population? 
Should  not  the  law-making  powers  of  the  country  encourage 
and  seek  to  settle  and  make  contented  this  vast  wealth -pro- 
ducing people  of  our  land? 

"The  few  disturbances  and  outbreaks  in  the  South  show 
the  wonderful  organic  forces  in  the  South.  We  have  here 
10,000,000  of  Negroes  and  15,000,000  whites,  and  yet  we 
have  probably  in  the  whole  South  only  one  Negro  and  white 
man  in  10,000  who  clash.  The  other  9,999  rub  against 
one  another  every  hour  of  the  day,  in  every  walk  of  life, 
transact  their  business  and  go  qn  their  way  in  perfect  friend- 
ship. These  peaceful  relations  of  the  9,999  give  a  bolder 
prominence  to  the  one  exception  which  is  held  up  by  enemies 
as  a  general  rule.  The  love  and  attachment  between  the 
races  of  the  South  are  more  than  wonderful,  when  we  con- 
sider the  untiring  efforts  of  busy  and  meddlesome  enemies 
seeking  to  scatter  seeds  of  discord  and  break  up  our  peace. 
We  9,999  will  stand  firmly  for  good-will  and  happiness  .of 
both  races  in  the  South.  No  enemy  shall  take  that  one 
sinner  in  10,000  and  disrupt  and  tear  us  asunder.  We  have 
labored  side  by  side  for  centuries,  and  have  never  harmed 
each  other.  The  Negro  is  too  often  badly  misrepresented. 
It  often  seems  hard  for  another  people  to  do  him  justice.  Each 
race  must  write  its  own  history;  each  race  must  interpret  its 
own  aspirations. 

u  It  is  a  weak  and  mistaken  policy  which  advocates  meager 
provisions  and  facilities  for  the  training  and  education  of  the 
Negro.  It  is  the  educated  mind  and  the  trained  hand  which 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  283 

must  make  valuable  our  natural  resources — mind  and  muscle 
to  the  river,  mind  and  muscle  to  the  soil,  mind  and  muscle 
to  raw  materials,  mind  and  muscle  to  the  forest,  mind  and 
muscle  to  the  waste  places.  Mind  alone  gives  life  to  all, 
gives  value  to  all,  makes  all  blossom  into  fruitage.  The 
nation  must  treat  the  Negro  fairly,  must  educate  his  head, 
heart  and  hand,  or  buy  Gatling  guns  and  drive  him  into  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico,  as  the  Indian  is  being  driven  into  his 
grave  toward  the  setting  sun.  Since  the  Negro  is  a  recog- 
nized part  of  the  productive  element  of  this  nation,  it  will 
be  well  for  the  nation  to  remember  that  no  government  can 
rise  higher  or  run  faster  than  the  weakest  element  in  it. 
It  would  be  a  sin  for  the  strong  white  man,  in  whose  hands 
we  are  as  Lilliputians  in  the  hands  of  Brobdingnags,  to 
do  one  thing  or  say  one  thing  or  insinuate  one  thing  to 
cripple  Negro  education.  Let  the  South  be  proud  of  what 
the  North  has  done  for  Negro  education.  If  it  were  in  my 
power  I  would  select  the  highest  place  in  the  blackest  South, 
and  there  I  would  erect  a  monument  of  the  most  imperishable 
marble,  with  its  head  far  in  the  azure  depths  above,  to  the 
sacred  memory  of  the  teachers  from  the  North,  who,  forsaking 
the  comforts  and  civilization  of  their  homes,  have  sacrificed 
all  for  the  redemption  of  the  South  from  its  long  night  of 
ignorance  and  industrial  stagnation.  Let  the  South  be  proud 
of  what  its  fathers  did  to  raise  four  millions  of  savages  to  ten 
millions  of  Christians.  What  we  are  we  owe  it  all  to  the  South. 
Our  ambition,  our  inspiration,  the  directing  energies  of  our 
destiny,  are  all  Southern,  breathed  into  us  by  Southern  men. 
u  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  South  has  the  most  loyal 
and  docile  labor  in  the  world.  Nowhere  on  the  globe  is  such 
loyalty  to  employer  to  be  found.  The  Negro  is  true  to  his 
master  under  all  circumstances.  His  obligation  is  more 
sacred  than  racial  ties.  Would  Irish  waiters  serve  all  the 
world  except  Irishmen?  Would  a  German  barber  shave  every 
man  except  a  German?  Would  the  American  Indian  dis- 
criminate against  himself?  Do  you  say  it  is  cowardice  in 


284  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

the  Negro?  It  is  not  so.  It  is  Negro  religion  which  rises 
above  every  worldly  consideration  to  the  purely  ideal,  spir- 
itual world,  where  there  are  no  races,  parties  or  clans.  This 
element  in  Negro  nature,  so  much  slandered  by  his  white 
brother,  is  the  noblest  quality  in  mankind. 

"We  teach  every  Negro  boy  and  girl  to  work;  we  ask 
nothing  but  a  chance  to  work  and  to  be  paid  for  our  work ; 
we  envy  no  man ;  take  nothing  from  any  man .  We  teach  that 
every  honest  Negro  drayman,  servant-girl,  washer- woman , 
mechanic,  hotel-boy,  barber  who  does  his  duty  in  an  intelli- 
gent, competent  and  trustworthy  manner  is  a  queen  or  a 
prince  among  men;  no  honest  labor  is  dishonorable.  It  is 
more  blessed  to  serve  than  to  be  served  in  any  walk  of  life. 
The  servant-girl's  hood  and  apron  above  an  honest  heart  and 
educated  brain  are  as  honorable  as  the  college  cap  and  gown. 
Let  the  Negro  race  carry  the  pick  in  one  hand  and  the  olive 
branch  of  peace  in  the  other. 

uThe  Negro  leaders  must  go  forth  as  saviors  of  the  masses 
of  our  people,  to  pour  into  them  hope,  industry,  true  Chris- 
tianity, enlightenment  of  mind  and  conscience,  and,  above  all, 
contentment.  I  regret  that  there  is  an  element  of  white  men 
in  this  country  who  continually  nag  the  Negro;  they  will  do 
no  real  harm,  but  render  the  uneducated  Negro  unhappy, 
discontented,  suspicious,  and  interfere  with  his  efficiency  as 
a  laborer.  It  unsettles  Negro  labor,  and  produces  a  kind  of 
stagnation  in  the  community.  Gentlemen  of  the  convention, 
you  can  stop  this  unwise  and  unjust  treatment  of  your  labor- 
ing class.  We  all  regret  this  condition  of  affairs  and  we 
must  labor  with  the  good  element  of  white  men,  which  has 
constantly  increased,  both  North  and  South,  for  the  eleva- 
tion of  the  Negro  and  the  true  happiness  of  all  the  people  of 
our  American  republic. 

"Any  coward  can  oppress  a  people — can  be  unfair — but  it 
takes  a  brave  man  to  treat  all  men ,  of  whatever  race  and  con- 
dition, fairly  and  justly.  Any  other  ideal,  any  other  treat- 
ment of  men,  transmits  to  posterity  a  race  of  moral  weakliugs 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  285 

and  cowards.  Teach  every  Negro  boy  and  girl  that  the 
salvation  of  life,  the  salvation  of  everything  in  the  world,  is 
the  glorious  end  of  education  and  duty.  Then  there  could 
be  no  race  conflict.  I  would  rather  see  every  Negro  of  the 
ten  millions  in  this  country  driven  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico 
and  sink  beneath  its  waters  with  spotless  souls,  than  to  live 
with  the  blood  of  human  beings,  with  the  blood  of  another 
race,  dripping  from  victorious  daggers  in  Negro  hands. 

"It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  not  one  white  man  in  a 
hundred  has  studied  the  better  side  of  Negro  life.  Ninety- 
nine  out  of  every  hundred  notices  that  appear  in  the  public 
press  deal  with  the  evil  side  of  Negro  life.  The  American 
white  man  has  little  conception  of  the  real  progress  made  by 
the  Negro  in  the  last  forty  years.  He  sees  the  shiftless 
dudes  and  criminal  Negro;  but  rarely  stops  to  note  that  in- 
telligent, industrious,  sober,  earnest,  law-abiding  and  God- 
fearing army  of  Negroes,  3,000,000  strong,  who  are  forging 
their  way,  step  by  step,  onward,  in  the  face  of  slander  and 
attempted  detraction ,  to  respectable  citizenship  and  recogni- 
tion in  the  world.  The  men  who  know  the  Negro  and  who 
have  studied  him  from  contact  with  his  better  life  are  the 
solid,  substantial  business  men  of  the  country,  who  are  always 
willing  to  testify  to  the  worth  of  my  people.  The  politician, 
whose  stock  in  trade  is  in  proportion  to  his  loud  and  bitter 
abuse  of  the  Negro,  is  ignorant  of  the  true  character  and 
progress  of  the  race.  There  would  be  no  Negro  problem 
were  it  not  for  these  politicians,  who  cry  aloud  to  arouse  the 
ignorant  masses  and  thereby  ride  into  power  on  popular  prej- 
udice. Notwithstanding  all  this,  there  is  a  large  class  of 
white  men  throughout  the  South  and  throughout  the  nation, 
who,  in  public  and  private  life,  by  word  and  deed,  are  labor- 
ing to  hold  in  check  baneful  influences  and  generate  health- 
ful energies  for  the  betterment  of  the  Negro  and  the  peace 
and  salvation  of  the  government.  They  are  not  ashamed  to 
put  their  strong  arms  around  their  black  brother,  help  him 
to  his  feet,  and  fight  back  the  niob  to  give  him  a  chance  to 


286  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

stand.  To  these  men,  in  the  humble  and  business  walk  of 
life,  the  Negro  must  look  for  help  and  the  nation  for  salva- 
tion. 

"Whatever  views  we  may  hold  in  regard  to  the  civilization 
and  development  of  Africa,  however  fondly  we  may  wish  the 
repatriation  of  the  Negro  element  in  our  population,  it  still 
remains  a  fact  that  the  Negro  is  a  permanent  fixture  in  the 
American  body  politic.  He  will  not  go  out.  He  cannot  be 
killed  out.  Ten  millions  of  people  can  neither  be  removed 
nor  destroyed  in  a  day  by  the  snap  of  a  finger,  nor  the  belch- 
ing forth  of  deadly  guns.  We  are  down  to  hard  work,  try- 
ing to  make  the  best  of  ourselves  that  we  can.  The  masses  of 
the  Negro  race  are  working  hard,  accumulating  property  and 
character,  enriching  the  nation  by  their  industrious  arms, 
obeying  the  laws,  fighting  for  the  Stars  and  Stripes,  and 
serving  God,  and  that  God  will  shape  for  them  a  grand  and 
noble  destiny.  God  has  always  taken  care  of  these  ques- 
tions, and  I  believe  He  will  continue  to  do  so. 

'Truth  forever  on  the  scaffold,  wrong  forever  on  the  throne, 
Yet  that  scaffold  sways  the  future,  and  behind  the  dim  unknown 
Standeth  God  within  the  shadow,  keeping  watch  above  His  own.' 

"Violence  is  the  argument  of  cowards  and  unwise  people. 
Shotguns  correct  nothing;  swords  conquer  nothing.  Those 
who  use  the  sword  must  perish  by  it.  The  Negro  has  the 
most  powerful  weapon  known  to  men.  It  is  the  only  con- 
vincing argument;  it  is  the  only  weapon  which  brings  last- 
ing conquest;  it  is  the  sword  of  the  spirit;  it  is  faith  in  God. 
The  Negro  cannot  hope  to  succeed  with  carnal  weapons,  but 
with  spirit  forces  there  is  no  ocean  which  he  cannot  cross; 
no  Alps  which  he  cannot  scale.  Persecutions  in  time  turn  on 
the  persecutor  with  a  thousandfold  more  destructive  malig- 
nity than  was  visited  upon  the  persecuted.  Wrongs  are 
like  the  boomerang,  and  return  to  those  who  hurl  them  with 
more  deadly  results  than  they  inflict  upon  the  intended  vic- 
tim. No  people  were  ever  persecuted  down;  they  were  al- 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  287 

ways  persecuted  up.  If  we  have  been  persecuted  in  this 
country,  such  persecution  has  more  than  doubled  our  popu- 
lation in  thirty-eight  years  and  has  increased  our  material 
wealth  by  $1,000,000,000  in  the  same  time. 

'Let  us  call  tyrants  tyrants,  and  maintain 
That  only  freedom  comes  by  the  grace  of  God, 
And  all  that  comes  not  by  His  grace  must  fail. ' 

11  Discarding  politics  and  considering  the  relations  of  the 
two  races  in  the  South,  their  mutual  helpfulness  in  all  the 
essential  elements  of  civilization,  the  results  are  marvelous 
beyond  anything  in  history.  The  contribution  to  Negro  edu- 
cation and  religion  in  proportion  to  the  ability  of  the  South 
exceeds  that  of  any  other  section  of  our  country.  The  North 
and  West,  with  limitless  resources,  have  had  a  hundred 
years  of  unbroken  prosperity.  The  South  has  been  the  scene 
of  conflicts.  Vast  armies  have  thundered  over  her  and  wasted 
her  life;  her  whole  social  and  commercial  fabric  has  been  de- 
stroyed. Yet  out  of  this  wreck  she  has  crawled,  and  with 
the  new  order  of  things  promises  more  excellent  develop- 
ment. In  my  lifetime  I  have  seen  in  this  change  of  South- 
ern affairs  a  grander  miracle  than  was  enacted  when  Christ 
called  Lazarus  from  the  grave.  Old  slave  plantations  have 
been  turned  into  industrial  schools  for  the  old  slaves;  mas- 
ters' old  mansions  turned  into  colleges  for  the  slaves,  and  old 
slaves  now  presidents  of  these  colleges.  Normal,  which  I 
have  the  honor  to  represent,  was  once  a  famous  inn  and  race- 
track. There  stood  the  distillery;  there  stood  the  grog-shop; 
there  stood  the  auction-block  whereon  the  Negro  was  sold. 
Today  it  is  one  of  the  largest  Negro  collegiate  and  industrial 
schools  in  the  world,  and  every  man  on  its  board  of  trustees 
was  a  commissioned  officer  in  the  Confederate  army. 

"The  prophet  has  said:  'The  people  that  walked  in  dark- 
ness have  seen  a  great  light.  They  that  dwell  in  the  land  of 
the  shadow  of  death,  upon  them  hath  the  light  shined.'  All 
this  has  taken  place  in  my  day  in  the  South. 


288  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

"Whatever  lifts  up  the  white  race  in  the  South  must  lift 
up  the  Negro  race.  Breathe  into  the  white  boys  and  girls  of 
the  South  intelligence,  justice,  truth,  mercy  and  industry 
and  the  Negro  will  be  benefited.  Nothing  has  ever  been  in 
my  way  but  ignorance,  either  on  my  own  part  or  the  part  of 
the  other  man.  There  is  but  one  superiority,  and  that  is 
the  superiority  of  virtue.  That  man  is  superior  who  does 
the  superior  thing  to  lift  mankind  to  superior  conditions. 
The  Atlanta  News,  in  combating  a  proposition  to  divide  the 
school  fund  between  the  races  in  proportion  to  the  taxes  paid 
by  each,  exclaims:  'What  an  attitude  would  we  occupy  be- 
fore the  world  if  we  should  disfranchise  the  illiterate  and 
abolish  their  schools!'  The  Nashville  American,  comment- 
ing on  the  position  taken  by  the  supporters  of  the  move- 
ment, says:  'A  very  indefensible  attitude.  The  caring  for 
the  Negro  rests  with  the  Soiithern  white  people.  They 
must  school  them  and  give  them  employment. 

"When  by  persecution  Galileo  was  forced  to  deny  his  doc- 
trine of  the  movement  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  he  followed  his 
recantation  with  these  remarkable  words:  4It  moves,  for  all 
that.'  So,  notwithstanding  the  unfair  discussion  of  the  Ne- 
gro question,  notwithstanding  the  foundationless  charges  of 
criminality  among  the  educated  Negro,  the  race  moves  just 
the  same.  Notwithstanding  the  doctrine  of  the  inferiority  of 
race,  instead  of  inferiority  of  condition,  the  Negro  race 
moves  onward.  The  aggregate  Negro  is  viewed,  while  the 
individual  Negro  is  ignored,  in  making  up  the  popular  ver- 
dict against  the  race.  Let  our  critics  view  the  units  of  the 
race,  and  they  will  have  a  better  opinion  of  us.  Let  every 
white  man  judge  the  Negro  by  his  best  experience  with  him, 
and  not  by  the  worst  which  he  hears  of  him.  Let  the  ques- 
tion of  inferiority  and  superiority  rest.  If  we  do  good  work 
and  show  ourselves  worthy,  no  amount  of  injustice  or  de- 
traction can  keep  us  down  in  the  end. 

;'The  solution  of  the  race  problem  does  not  depend  upon 
whether  the  Negro  votes  or  not.     Colleges  cannot  solve  it; 


7Ar    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  289 

houses  and  lands  cannot  solve  it;  wealth  and  all  the  power, 
ease  and  comfort  which  it  brings  may  aggravate  it.  If  the 
Negro  remains  in  this  country,  the  race  question  can  be  set- 
tled only  by  each  race  understanding  its  relation  to  the  other 
and  each  knowing  its  place  and  each  keeping  its  place.  The 
solution  of  the  race  problem  does  not  mean  social  equality 
between  the  races,  but  it  does  mean  that  the  American  public 
must  do  justice  to  the  Negro  of  merit.  The  solution  of  the 
race  problem  does  not  mean  the  triumph  of  one  race  over 
another.  It  does  not  necessarily  mean  the  measuring  of 
industrial  and  literary  capacities.  It  does  not  mean  com- 
parison of  racial  endurance  and  racial  possibilities,  but  it 
does  mean  peace  and  mutual  helpfulness  between  the  races. 
If  this  is  not  to  be  the  result  of  discussion  and  present  edu- 
cational effort,  then  our  civilization  is  a  failure  and  our 
Christianity  a  farce.  If  every  white  man  in  the  land  would 
say  all  the  good  things  he  can  about  every  black  man  in  the 
land  and  do  all  the  good  things  he  can  for  every  black  man 
in  the  land,  and  every  black  man  in  'the  land  would  say  al] 
the  good  things  he  can  about  every  white  man  in  the  land 
and  do  all  the  good  things  he  can  for  every  white  man  in  the 
land,  the  race  question  with  all  its  concomitant  evils  would 
disappear  before  God's  sunshine  of  peace,  good-will  and 
prosperity  forever." 


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CHAPTER  XI. 

TUSKEGEE  NORMAL  AND  INDUSTRIAL  INSTITUTE. 
I.  CHARACTER  OF  THE  SCHOOL  AND  WHAT  IT  SEEKS  TO  DO» 

This  institution  for  the  instruction  and  training  of  colored 
youth  has  become  famous  among  the  great  schools  of  the 
United  States.  The  influence  that  emanates  from  it  is  wide- 
spread, and  it  is  beneficent  in  its  effects  not  only  upon  the 
colored  population,  but  upon  the  whites  in  that  great  degree 
in  which  the  interests  of  the  two  races  are  common.  This  is 
true  alike  of  the  public  .teachings  of  the  distinguished  prin- 
cipal, Booker  T.  Washington,  and  of  the  attainments  and 
conduct  of  the  little  army  of  students  who  annually  go  from 
its  recitation  rooms,  its  laboratories,  its  shops  and  its  fields, 
to  carry  into  their  life  work  the  principles  and  purposes  with 
which  they  have  been  imbued,  and  the  intellectual  strength 
and  manual  skill  that  fit  them  for  usefulness  and  for  rising 
to  positions  of  honor  and  independence. 

A  succinct  statement  of  the  general  character  of  the  school 
and  what  it  seeks  to  accomplish  and  is  accomplishing  may 
very  appropriately  find  a  place  in  this  book,  and  we  here 
present  extracts  from  the  nineteenth  annual  report  of  the 
principal,  that  for  the  year  ended  May  31,  1900,  as  embody- 
ing such  statement: 

"There  has  not  been  a  year  since  freedom  came  to 
the  Negro  that  has  witnessed  such  wide-spread  discus- 
sion, both  North  and  South,  of  all  phases  of  his  condition, 
as  the  present  one.  I  cannot  rid  myself  of  the  feeling  that 
much,  if  not  all,  of  this  discussion  is  going  to  prove  most 
helpful  to  the  Negro's  education  and  general  development. 

"I  am  of  the  opinion  that  there  is  more  thoughtful  interest 
in  the  Negro  at  the  present  time  than  has  ever  before  existed. 

9m 


292 


THE    XEVRO    IN    REVELATION. 


The  mere  spasmodic  and  sentimental  interest  in  him  has 
been,  in  a  large  degree,  replaced  by  the  more  substantial, 
thoughtful  kind,  based  upon  a  comprehension  of  the  facts. 

"One  is  often  surmised  at  the  misleading  and  unfounded 
statements  made  regarding  the  progress  of  the  Negro,  but 
these  very  exaggerations  serve  a  good  purpose  in  causing 
individuals  to  seek  facts  for  themselves. 

"For  example,  I  have  recently  seen  a  statement  going  the 
rounds  of  the  press,  to  the  effect  that,  out  of  1,200  students 


THH;  FACULTY,  TUSKEGKH  IXSTITITI;. 

educated  at  industrial  schools  only  twelve  were  farming,  and 
three  working  at  the  trades  for  which  they  were  educated. 
Whether  the  Tuskegee  Institute  was  included  in  this  list, 
I  do  not  know. 

"It  is  to  be  regretted  that  those  who  presume  to  speak  with 
authority  on  the  advancement  of  the  Negro  do  not  in  more 
cases  actually  visit  him,  where  they  can  see  his  better  life. 
Few  of  the  people  who  make  discouraging  statements  regard- 
ing him  have  ever  taken  the  trouble  to  inspect  his  home  life, 


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294  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION. 

his  school  life,  his  church  life,  or  his  business  or  industrial 
life.  It  is  always  misleading  to  judge  any  race  or  commu- 
nity by  its  worst.  The  Negro  race  should,  like  other  races, 
be  judged  by  its  best  types  rather  than  by  its  worst. 

"Any  one  who  judges  of  the  value  of  industrial  education 
by  the  mere  number  who  actually  follow  the  industry  or 
trade  learned  at  a  school  makes  a  mistake.  One  might  as 
well  judge  of  the  value  of  arithmetic  by  the  number  of  people 
who  spend  their  time  after  leaving  school  in  working  out 
problems  in  arithmetic. 

"The  chief  value  of  industrial  education  is  to  give  to  the 
students  habits  of  industry,  thrift,  economy,  and  an  idea  of 
the  dignity  of  labor.  But,  in  addition  to  this,  in  the  present 
economic  condition  of  the  colored  people,  it  is  most  important 
that  a  very  large  proportion  of  those  trained  in  such  institu- 
tions as  this' actually  spend  their  time  at  industrial  occupa- 
tions. Let  us  value  the  work  of  Tuskegee  by  this  test:  On 
January  10th  of  this  school  year  we  dedicated  the  Slater- 
Armstrong  Memorial  Trades'  Building.  This  building  is  in 
the  form  of  a  double  Greek  cross,  and  in  its  main  dimensions 
is  283x315  feet,  and  is  two  stories  high.  The  plans  of  this 
building  were  drawn  by  our  instructor  in  mechanical  drawing, 
a  colored  man.  800,000  bricks  were  required  to  construct  it, 
and  every  one  of  them  was  manufactured  by  our  students 
while  learning  the  trade  of  brickmaking.  All  the  bricks 
were  laid  into  the  building  by  students  who  were  being 
taught  the  trade  of  brickmasonry .  The  plastering,  carpentry 
work,  painting  and  tin-roofing  were  done  by  students  while 
learning  those  trades.  The  whole  number  of  students  who 
received  training  on  this  building  alone  was  about  196.  It  is 
to  be  lighted  by  electricity,  and  all  the  electric  fixtures  are 
being  put  in  by  students  who  are  learning  electrical  en- 
gineering. The  power  to  operate  the  machinery  in  this 
building  comes  from  a  125  horse-power  engine  and  a  75  horse- 
power boiler.  All  this  machinery  is  not  only  operated  by 
students  who  are  learning  the  trade  of  steam  engineering, 


296  THE    NEGRO    IN   REVELATION, 

but  was  installed  by  students  under  the  guidance  of  their 
instructor. 

4 'Let  us  take  another  example,  that  of  agriculture.  Our 
students  actually  cultivate  every  day  700  acres  of  land  while 
studying  agriculture.  The  students  studying  dairying 
actually  milk  and  care  for  75  milch  cows  daily.  Besides, 
they  of  course  take  care  of  the  dairy  products.  All  of  this  is 
done  while  learning  the  industry  of  dairying.  The  whole 
number  of  students  receiving  instruction  in  the  divisions  of 
agriculture  and  dairying  the  past  year  is  142. 

"The  students  who  are  receiving  training  in  farming  have 
cared  for  619  head  of  hogs  this  year;  and  so  I  could  go  on 
and  give  not  theory,  nor  hearsay,  but  actual  facts,  gleaned 
from  all  the  departments  of  the  school. 

"It  does  not  look  reasonable  that,  of  all  the  large  number 
of  students  engaged  upon  the  farms  and  in  the  dairy,  that 
only  about  one  per  cent,  should  make  any  practical  use  of 
their  knowledge  after  leaving  Tuskegee.  But  this  is  not  the 
fact.  The  best  place  to  get  a  true  estimate  of  an  individual 
is  at  his  home.  The  same  is  true  of  an  institution.  Let  us 
take,  for  example,  Macon  county,  Alabama,  in  which  the 
Tuskegee  Institute  is  located.  By  a  careful  investigation  it 
is  found  that  there  are  not  less  than  35  graduates  and  former 
students  in  Macon  county  and  the  town  of  Tuskegee  alone 
who  are  working  at  trades  or  industries  which  they  learned 
at  this  institution.  At  the  present  time  a  large  two-story 
brick  building  is  going  up  in  the  town  of  Tuskegee  that  is 
to  be  used  as  a  store.  In  the  first  place,  the  store  is  owned 
by  a  graduate  of  this  institution.  From  the  making  of  the 
brick  to  the  completion  of  all  the  details  of  this  building,  the 
work  is  being  done  by  graduates  or  former  students  of  this 
school;  and  so  the  examples  could  be  multiplied.  Following 
the  graduates  and  former  students  into  the  outer  world,  the 
record  is  as  follows:  A  careful  examination  shows  that  at 
least  three-fourths  of  them  are  actually  using  during  the 
whole  time,  or  a  part  of  the  time,  the  industrial  knowledge 


/TV    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP. 


207 


which  they  gained  here.  Even  those  who  do  not  use  this 
knowledge  in  making  a  living  use  it  as  housekeepers  in  their 
private  homes;  and  those  who  teach  in  the  public  schools, 
either  directly  or  indirectly,  use  it  in  helping  their  pupils. 

"Aside  from  all  that  I  have  said,  it  must  be  kept  in  mind 
that  the  whole  subject  of  industrial  training  on  any  large  and 
systematic  scale  is  new,  and  besides  is  confined  to  a  very  few 
institutions  in  the  South.  Industrial  training  could  not  be 
expected  to  revolutionize  the  progress  of  a  race  within  ten  or 


CHAPEL,  TUSKKGKK  INSTITUTE. 


fifteen  years.  At  the  present  time  the  call  for  graduates 
from  this  institution  to  take  positions  as  instructors  of  indus- 
tries in  other  smaller  institutions,  as  well  as  in  city  schools, 
is  so  urgent  and  constant  that  many  of  our  graduates  who 
would  work  independently  at  their  trades  are  not  permitted 
to  do  so.  In  fact,  one  of  the  most  regrettable  things  in  con- 
nection with  our  whole  work  is  that  the  calls  for  our  gradu- 
ates are  so  many  more  than  we  can  supply.  As  the  demand 
for  instructors  in  industrial  branches  of  various  schools  be- 


298  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

comes  supplied,  a  still  larger  precentage  of  graduates  will 
use  their  knowledge  of  the  trades  in  independent  occupations. 

"The  average  attendance  for  the  school  year  has  been 
1,083 — 321  young  women  and  762  young  men.  The  total 
enrollment  has  been  1,231 — 359  young  women  and  872  young 
men.  Nine- tenths  of  the  number  have  boarded  and  slept  on 
the  school  grounds.  In  all  the  departments,  including  offi- 
cers, clerks  and  instructors,  103  persons  are  in  the  employ 
of  the  school.  Counting  students,  officers  and  teachers,  to- 
gether with  their  families,  the  total  number  of  persons  con- 
stantly upon  the  school  grounds  is  about  1,200.  Students 
have  come  to  us  from  twenty-seven  States  and  Territories, 
from  Africa,  Porto  Rico,  Cuba,  Jamaica  and  Barbadoes. 
There  are  twelve  students  from  Cuba  alone. 

"During  the  present  school  year  students  have  been  trained 
in  the  following  twenty-eight  industries,  in  addition  to  the 
religious  and  academic  training:  Agriculture,  dairying, 
horticulture,  stock-raising,  blacksmithing,  brick-masonry, 
carpentry,  carriage  trimming,  cooking,  architectural,  free- 
hand and  mechanical  drawing,  plain  sewing,  plastering, 
plumbing,  printing,  saw- milling,  foundrying,  housekeeping, 
harness-making,  electrical  engineering,  laundering,  machin- 
ery, mattress-making,  millinery,  nurse  training,  painting, 
shoe-making,  tailoring,  tinning  and  wheel wrighting. 

"We  have  made  progress  in  the  matter  of  training  young 
women  in  outdoor  occupations.  Beginning  with  this  school- 
year,  we  are  now  giving  a  number  of  girls  training  in 
poultry-raising,  bee  culture,  dairying,  gardening,  fruit- 
growing, etc.  A  large  hennery  is  now  being  built,  and  it 
will  be  almost  wholly  under  the  supervision  of  our  girls. 

"Notwithstanding  the  stress  put  upon  industrial  training, 
we  are  not  in  any  degree  neglecting  normal  training  for 
those  who  are  to  teach  in  the  public  schools.  The  number 
of  graduates  this  year  from  all  the  departments  is  fifty-one. 
In  addition  to  religious  and  academic  training,  each  one  of 
these  graduates  has  had  training  at  some  trade  or  industry. 


IN  HISTORY,  AND  IN  CITIZENSHIP. 


299 


In  considering  the  number  that  go  out  each  year,  account 
should  be  taken  of  those  who  are  well  trained,  but  who  are 
unable  to  remain  long  enough  to  graduate.  Our  graduates 
and  former  students  are  now  scattered  all  over  the  South; 
and,  wherever  they  can,  they  not  only  help  the  colored  peo- 
ple, but  use  their  influence  in  cultivating  friendly  relations 
between  the  races. 

1 '  While  our  work  is  not  sectarian,  it  is  thoroughly  Christian; 
and  the  growth  in  the  religious  tone  Of  the  school  is  most 


NURSK-TRAINING  CL,ASS,  TUSKEIGUli  INSTITUTE. 

gratifying.  We  have  had  more  visits  this  year  than  ever 
from  Southern  white  people,  who  are  more  and  more  showing 
their  interest  in  our  effort. 

"In  closing  this  report  I  would  say  that  my  feeling  grows 
stronger  each  year  that  the  main  thing  that  we  want  to  be 
sure  of  is  that  the  Negro  is  making  progress  day  by  day. 
With  constant,  tangible,  visible,  indisputable  progress  being 
made  evident,  all  the  minor  details  regarding  the  adjustment 
of  our  position  in  the  body  politic  will,  in  a  natural  way, 
settle  themselves." 


300  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION. 

II.     SUMMARY   OF   THE   WORK   DONE. 

The  following  account  of  what  has  been  accomplished  by 
the  Tuskegee  School  and  of  the  character  of  Booker  T.  Wash- 
ington is  from  the  pen  of  Maj.  W.  W.  Screws,  editor  of  the 
Montgomery  (Ala.)  Advertiser: 

1  'In  the  early  part  of  the  year  1881  there  came  to  Tuskegee 
a  very  quiet,  unassuming  colored  man,  for  the  purpose  of  es- 
tablishing an  institution  for  the  education  of  colored  boys 
and  girls.  From  the  day  of  his  arrival,  when  he  had  only 
modest  surroundings,  until  the  present,  when  his  name  and 
that  of  the  institution  over  which  he  presides  is  known  over 
the  entire  continent,  Booker  T.  Washington  has  had  the  ab- 
solute confidence  of  the  white  people  of  that  community. 
There  is  never  a  word  of  harsh  criticism,  of  him  or  his  meth- 
ods. He  has  been  singularly  imbued  with  a  desire  to  culti- 
vate good  relations  between  the  two  races,  and  to  be  of  lasting 
benefit  to  his  own  people.  He  is  succeeding  in  both  under- 
takings. There  is  nothing  of  the  agitator  about  him.  His 
ways  are  those  of  pleasantness  and  peace,  and  as  far  as  his 
voice  and  example  prevail,  there  will  always  be  the  best  of 
feeling  between  the  white  and  black  people  of  this  country. 
Fred  Douglass  and  some  other  colored  men  have  figured  as 
orators  and  office-holders,  but  it  is  no  exaggeration  to  say 
that  Booker  T.  Washington  far  surpasses  any  of  them  who 
have  at  all  figured  in  a  public  way.  He  does  something  for 
his  people  and  his  country,  while  the  others  have  done  mostly 
for  themselves.  The  modest  colored  man  of  Tuskegee  de- 
serves to  be  classed  as  the  foremost  man  of  his  race  in  the 
world.  Evidence  of  his  earnestness  and  sincerity  of  purpose 
is  furnished  by  an  incident  that  occurred  not  long  ago.  His 
salary  is  fixed  by  the  Board  of  Trustees,  several  of  whom  are 
prominent  citizens  of  Tuskegee.  In  view  of  the  immense 
amount  of  work  he  was  doing,  it  was  thought  proper  to  in- 
crease his  salary.  When  informed  of  this  action  he  promptly 
declined  it,  saying  that  the  amount  he  was  receiving  was 
ample  compensation,  and  that  he  did  not  desire  any  more. 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  301 

"The  people  of  the  late  slave  States  have  to  contend  with 
the  race  question,  and  whoever  pursues  a  course  and  policy 
calculated  to  remove  difficulties,  and  to  establish  kind  rela- 
tions, is  a  public  benefactor.  No  free  people  will  remain  in 
ignorance,  and  it  has  long  since  been  demonstrated  that  the 
Negroes  will  receive  such  education  as  opportunity  offers. 
Alabama  makes  no  discrimination  in  the  distribution  of  school 
money,  for  it  is  paid  out  per  capita,  and  every  school  child, 
whether  white  or  black,  gets  the  benefit  of  the  sum  to  which  it 
is  entitled .  It  is  a  blessing  for  the  control  of  the  colored  schools 
to  fall  into  the  hands  of  such  men  as  Booker  T.  Washington. 
It  can  be  said  to  his  credit  that  colored  teachers  are  found  all 
over  Alabama  who  were  educated  at  his  institution,  and,  in 
every  instance,  the  white  people  commend  them  for  instilling 
correct  notions  into  their  pupils  and  for  impressing  upon 
them  the  fact  that  they  cannot  prosper  unless  their  white 
neighbors  prosper,  and  unless  a  proper  understanding  exists 
between  them.  It  is  infinitely  better  to  have  teachers  who 
have  such  notions  than  those  who  would  seek  to  create  prej- 
udice, which  would  inevitably  lead  to  trouble. 

"As  stated  at  the  outset,  this  institution  began  operations  in 
1881 ,  and  with  only  one  small  frame  building.  The  Adver- 
tiser has  published  a  great  deal  about  it  in  the  last  few  years, 
and  its  readers  are  fairly  well  acquainted  with  its  object  and 
scope.  In  a  brief  way,  a  presentation  is  here  made  of  what 
is  now  being  done  at  this  institution. 

"The  Tuskegee  Normal  and  Industrial  Institute  has,  up  to 
date,  enrolled  987  students.  This  does  not  include  the  Pri- 
mary Department,  known  as  the  Model  School,  which  has  an 
enrollment  of  235.  The  work  carried  on  at  the  institution  is  a 
high  English  course,  combined  with  the  industrial  training, 
so  arranged  and  correlated  that  one  department  does  not  in- 
terfere with  the  other,  but  aims  to  assist  the  other  in  every 
feature.  The  institution  now  has  eighty-six  officers  and 
teachers  in  the  various  academic  and  industrial  departments. 


302  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION. 

There  are  over  800  boarders  in  the  institution,  about  three- 
fifths  males  and  two-fifths  females. 

"The  property  consists  of  2,300  acres  of  land  and  forty-five 
buildings,  large  and  small.  The  large  buildings  are  Phelps 
Hall,  the  Bible  Training  Department,  Porter  Hall,  Science 
Hall,  Cassedy  Hall,  Alabama  Hall,  the  Seniors'  Home, 
Willow  Cottage,  the  Annex  and  Agricultural  Hall.  All  of 
the  largest  buildings  are  built  of  brick  manufactured  by  the 
students  on  the  school  grounds,  and  all  the  work  done  in 
constructing  buildings  on  the  grounds — both  large  and 
small — is  done  by  the  students,  under  their  different  in- 
structors. 

"From  the  beginning,  the  industrial  work  has  been  empha- 
sized, to  prepare  tradesmen,  who  have  been  elevated  to  a  very 
high  point  among  their  different  trades.  The  government 
of  the  institution  has  felt  that  in  order  to  put  the  Negro 
race  on  its  proper  footing  in  the  South,  and  in  order  that 
they  may  hold  their  own,  that  they  must  be  well  edu- 
cated in  industrial  pursuits,  and  that  they  should  be  carried 
as  fast  as  their  ability  would  allow  them,  in  order  that  they 
might  become  leaders  in  the  various  sections  of  the  South. 
The  industries  taught  at  the  institution  for  the  male  pupils 
are  as  follows: 

" Tailoring,  where  all  the  uniforms  are  made  for  the  stu- 
dents, citizens'  suits  for  teachers  and  a  great  number  of  the 
people  in  the  town  of  Tuskegee. 

"Harness-making  in  all  of  its  branches,  from  the  common 
farm  harness  to  the  highest  grade  of  coach  and  express 
harness. 

"The  shoe-making  department  receives  more  orders  than 
it  can  fill,  from  teachers,  students  and  citizens. 

'  'The  tinning  department  is  where  all  of  the  tinware  for  the 
institution  is  made;  also  there  is  a  great  demand  from  both 
the  people  in  the  town  and  the  surrounding  country  for  tin- 
ware manufactured  in  it.  This  department  also  does  all  the 
tin  roofing  for  the  institution. 


BOOKER  T.  WASHINGTON. 


304  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

uThe  painting  department  is  kept  busy  painting  buggies 
and  carriages  manufactured  at  the  institution  for  sale,  keeps 
up  all  the  repair  work  and  paints  all  of  the  new  buildings  as 
fast  as  they  are  constructed  on  the  grounds.  There  is  a 
great  demand  on  it  from  the  citizens  of  the  town  to  paint 
buggies,  carriages,  etc. 

"The  wheelwright  department  turns  out  a  large  number  of 
wagons,  buggies,  phaetons,  dump-carts,  wheelbarrows,  hand- 
carts and  other  work  in  that  line,  besides  doing  a  great  deal 
of  repairing  for  the  country  people. 

"The  blacksmith  department  is  where  all  of  the  car- 
riages, buggies,  wagons,  wheelbarrows  and  other  new  work 
from,  the  wheelwright  department  is  ironed  off.  It  also  does 
extensive  horseshoeing  for  people  in  town.  In  fact,  it  is 
the  only  shop  in  this  locality  where  first-class  horseshoeing 
is  done.  The  students  are  not  only  taught  the  principles  of 
how  to  make  and  put  on  a  shoe,  but  are  taught  the  anatomy 
of  a  horse's  foot. 

"The  foundry  makes  all  of  the  small  castings  used  in  the 
institution,  such  as  andirons,  window-weights,  etc.  Cast- 
ings for  six  small  three-horse-power  engines  and  two  pumps 
have  been  made  in  this  department. 

"The  machine  shop  has  a  good  outfit  for  turning  out  ma- 
chinery, such  as  engines,  pumps,  etc.,  and  does  a  great  deal 
of  repair  work  on  engines,  pumps  and  other  kinds  of  ma- 
chines for  the  surrounding  country. 

"The  carpentry  department,  which  is,  perhaps,  the  largest 
department  connected  with  the  institution,  gives  instruction 
in  the  line  of  house-building  and  making  furniture  of  differ- 
ent kinds.  It  furnishes  all  the  furniture  for  the  students' 
dormitories,  and  tables  and  seats  for  the  various  recitation 
rooms.  All  of  the  wood-work  done  on  the  different  build-, 
ings,  from  the  beginning  of  the  institution,  has  been  done 
by  this  department. 

"The  institution  owns  a  well-equipped  sawmill.  It  cuts 
its  own  timber  and  hauls  it  to  the  mill  to  be  sawed  up  and 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  3Q5 

used  in  the  construction  of  the  various  buildings  and  furni- 
ture for  the  institution. 

"At  the  brickyard,  all  of  the  brick  used  in  the  various 
buildings  on  the  grounds  are  made,  and  on  an  average  ten 
thousand  are  sold  to  the  people  every  month  in  various  sec- 
tions of  the  county.  The  machinery  at  the  brickyard  is 
of  the  latest  improved,  and  has  the  capacity  of  making 
twenty-five  thousand  bricks  daily.  It  is  said  by  competent 
judges  that  visit  the  institution,  that  they  have  never  seen 
better  brick  anywhere  than  those  made  in  this  department. 
All  of  the  bricks  are  made  and  burned  by  the  students. 

"In  the  brickmason  department  the  students  lay  all  of  the 
bricks  put  in  the  different  buildings,  build  all  the  chimneys 
and  do  all  the  plastering,  etc.,  of  the  various  buildings.  It 
is  safe  to  say  that  no  department  on  the  place  does  better 
work  than  this  department. 

"The  institution's  dairy  herd  furnishes  the  institution  and 
the  people  who  live  in  this  immediate  section  with  all  the 
milk  and  butter  they  use.  It  has  three  separators  of  different 
makes,  and  a  large  number  of  churns  of  different  varie- 
ties. The  dairy  is  run  on  scientific  principles,  both  as  to 
feeding  and  caring  for  the  stock,  and  separating  the  milk 
and  making  the  butter  and  cheese.  Its  aim  is  to  turn  out 
persons  who  are  able  to  go  out  and  take  charge  of  a  first-class 
dairy. 

"Truck  gardening  is  taught  very  extensively,  also  horti- 
culture. The  institution  aims,  as  near  as  possible,  to  supply 
itself  with  vegetables,  fruits,  etc.,  raised  on  its  own  farm. 
From  two  to  three  crops  are  raised  on  all  of  its  land.  Be- 
sides the  plats  that  are  used  for  truck  gardening,  the  insti- 
tution owns  an  eight-hundred-acre  farm  about  three  miles 
from  the  school  site,  where  large  grain  for  feeding  stock, 
sweet  potatoes,  peas  and  sugar-cane  are  raised  on  a  very  large 
scale.  In  fact,  nearly  all  the  syrup  used  in  the  institution 
this  year  was  raised  on  this  farm.  Hog-raising  is  made  a 
specialty,  and  is  very  successfully  done. 
20 


306  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

"The  agricultural  building,  which  was  given  by  the  John 
F.  Slater  fund,  and  opened  on  the  30th  of  last  November, 
makes  a  new  feature  in  the  institution  in  the  line  of  teaching 
agriculture,  dairying,  horticulture  and  other  branches  of  in- 
dustry along  that  line.  This  building  has  been  well  equipped 
and  good  work  is  being  done  in  it. 

"All  of  the  pupils  who  enter  the  institution  are  compelled 
to  take  some  line  of  industry  in  some  of  the  different  trades: 
agriculture,  office- work,  or  something  that  will  put  them  in 
a  position  to  earn  an  honest  living  after  leaving  the  institu- 
tion. All  of  the  industries  for  both  men  and  women  are  so 
arranged  that  they  do  not  interfere  with  their  literary  course 
of  study.  On  an  average,  they  are  instructed  four  days  out 
of  the  week  in  the  literary  line  of  class-room  work,  and  one 
half  day  in  the  shop  or  whatever  industry  they  may  pursue. 

"The  work  for  young  women  is  laundering,  domestic 
science  in  the  line  of  housekeeping,  cooking,  nurse-training, 
dressmaking,  plain  sewing  in  all  its  forms  and  millinery. 

"The  object  of  all  the  industries  is  to  make  them  educa- 
tional in  every  feature,  and  to  add  dignity  to  labor. 

"The  institution  has  a  very  large,  well-fitted  printing  office. 
Some  of  the  machinery  in  this  office  is  one  large  newspaper 
cylinder  press,  one  large  and  three  smaller  job  presses,  wire 
stitching  machine,  paper  cutter,  perforating  machine,  and 
the  necessary  type  to  turn  out  work  of  a  very  high  class 
very  quickly.  The  presses  are  run  by  two  small  upright 
engines,  made  by  the  students  in  the  machine  shop. 

"For  eight  years  the  institution  has  had  on  hand  a  small 
canning  outfit.  The  amount  of  fruit  and  vegetables  put  up 
in  this  department  has  increased  every  year.  The  outfit  is 
not  a  costly  one,  and  could  be  attached  to  any  steam  boiler  and 
operated  by  a  man  and  a  few  small  boys  and  girls.  The  in- 
stitution has  put  out  within  the  last  few  years,  on  an  average, 
one  thousand  peach  and  other  fruit  trees  every  year,  which 
are  beginning  to  yield  fruit  to  a  greater  extent  than  the 
present  outfit  can  put  up.  All  of  the  cans  used  in  this  de- 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  307 

partment  are  made  by  the  students,  and  the  work  of  cooking 
the  fruit  and  filling  the  cans  is  done  by  them.  The  institu- 
tion has  quite  a  number  of  young  men  and  women  who  have 
served  an  apprenticeship  in  this  department,  and  can  go  out 
in  any  section  of  the  country  and  can  fruit  on  a  large  or 
small  scale,  or  give  instructions  in  this  line. 

"It  might  be  supposed  that  with  so  large  a  collection  of 
colored  people,  about  twelve  hundred,  in  a  town  of  this 
size,  there  would  be  trouble  between  the  races.  There  has 
never  been  an  instance  of  this  kind,  and  there  is  not  likely 
to  be  as  long  as  the  influence  of  President  Washington  pre- 
vails. The  white  citizens,  without  exception,  say  that  you 
would  scarcely  know  of  so  many  colored  pupils  being  here, 
as  they  are  under  the  very  best  of  discipline,  and  good  be- 
havior is  the  rule  with  all  the  students.  It  is  really  a 
pleasure  to  the  citizens  of  Tuskegee  to  bear  testimony  to  the 
excellence  of  this  institution  and  its  management." 

III.     BOOKER  T.    WASHINGTON    EXPLAINS    TO    A    NORTHERN 

AUDIENCE  HIS  CONNECTION  WITH  THE  SCHOOL,  AND 

NOTICES  THE  RELATIONS  OF  THE   RACES 

IN   THE  SOUTH.* 

Mr.  President,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

"My  words  to  you  tonight  will  be  based  upon  an  humble 
effort  during  the  last  fourteen  years  to  better  the  condition  of 
my  people  in  the  'Black  Belt'  of  the  South.  It  was  my 
privilege  to  start  life  at  the  point  now  occupied  by  most  of 
my  people — in  a  small,  one-room  log  cabin  on  a  slave  planta- 
tion in  Virginia.  After  slavery,  while  working  in  the  coal 
mines  of  West  Virginia  for  the  support  of  my  mother,  I 
heard  in  some  way  of  the  Hampton  Institute,  General  Arm- 
strong's school  in  Virginia;  heard  that  it  was  an  institution 
where  a  poor  boy  could  enter  and  have  the  privilege  of  work- 
ing for  a  portion  of  his  expenses.  Almost  without  money 
or  friends,  by  walking  and  begging  rides,  I  reached  Rich- 

*  Speech  in  Carnegie  Hall,  New  York. 


308  THE    NEGRO ^  IN    REVELATION, 

mond,  Virginia,  without  a  penny;  and  there,  by  sleeping 
under  the  sidewalk  by  night  and  working  on  a  vessel  by  day, 
I  earned  money  enough  to  enable  me  to  reach  the  Hampton 
Institute.  At  Hampton  I  found  the  opportunity,  in  the  way 
of  buildings,  teachers  and  industries,  for  me  to  remain  there 
and  get  training  in  the  class-room;  and  by  practical  touch 
with  industrial  life,  thrift,  economy,  push,  to  be  surrounded 
by  an  atmosphere  of  business,  Christian  influences,  and  a 
spirit  of  self-help  that  seemed  to  have  awakened  every  fac- 
ulty in  me,  and  caused  me  for  the  first  time  to  realize  what 
it  meant  to  be  a  man  instead  of  a  piece  of  property. 

"While  at  Hampton  I  resolved  that  I  would  go  into  the 
far  South  and  give  my  life  to  providing  this  same  kind  of 
opportunity  for  self-awakening  and  self-help  that  I  found 
provided  for  me  at  the  Hampton  Institute;  and  so  starting 
at  Tuskegee,  Alabama,  in  1881,  in  a  small  shanty  with  one 
teacher  and  thirty  students,  without  a  dollar's  worth  of 
property,  this  spirit  of  self-help  and  industrial  thrift,  coupled 
with  aid  from  the  State  and  generosity  from  the  North,  has 
resulted  in  our  building,  at  Tuskegee,  an  institution  of  800 
students,  gathered  from  nineteen  States;  seventy  instructors, 
1,400  acres  of  land  and  thirty-eight  buildings,  twenty-three 
industries,  in  all,  property  valued  at  $225,000,  all  carried  on 
at  a  cost  of  $75,000  a  year. 

"This  is  kept  uppermost:  To  train  men  and  women  in 
head,  heart  and  hand;  to  meet  conditions  that  exist  right 
about  them  rather  than  conditions  that  existed  centuries  ago, 
or  that  exist  in  communities  a  thousand  miles  away.  And 
so,  in  connection  with  our  literary  and  religious  training,  we 
have  students  cultivate,  by  the  improved  methods  in  farming, 
650  acres  of  land,  then  we  teach  them  dairying,  horticulture, 
cooking,  sewing,  millinery,  and  have  them  make  the  brick, 
do  the  brickmasonry,  plastering,  sawing  of  the  lumber  and 
do  the  carpenter  work,  and  have  them  help  draw  the  plans  in 
connection  with  thirty  buildings.  We  are  not  saying  that 
education  in  the  classics,  of  ministers,  lawyers  and  doctors, 


IN   HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  3Q9 

is  not  necessary  and  important,  but  we  are  saying,  with 
every  atom  of  our  being,  that  since  90  per  cent,  of  the  black 
race  depend  at  present  upon  the  common  occupations,  and 
that  since  85  per  cent,  of  our  people  live  by  agriculture  and 
are  in  the  country  districts  of  the  South,  it  is  of  the  utmost 
importance  that  we  supply  them  as  fast  as  possible  with  edu- 
cated leaders  with  the  highest  training  in  agriculture,  dairy- 
ing, horticulture  and  the  mechanical  arts.  With  us  as  a  race 
this  is  a  question  of  growth  or  decay,  life  or  death.  Within 
the  next  two  decades  it  will  be  decided  whether  the  Negro,  by 
discarding  ante-bellum  ideas  and  methods  of  labor,  by  putting 
brains  and  skill  into  the  common  occupations  that  lie  at  his 
door,  will  be  able  to  lift  up  labor  out  of  toil,  drudgery  and 
degradation  into  that  which  is  dignified,  beautiful  and  glori- 
fied. Further,  it  will  be  decided  within  this  time  whether 
he  is  to  be  replaced,  crushed  out  as  a  helpful  industrial  factor 
by  the  fast-spreading  trades  unions  and  thousands  of  foreign 
skilled  laborers  that  even  now  tread  fast  and  hard  upon  his 
heels  and  begin  to  press  him  unto  death.  This  question  is 
for  your  Christian  Church  to  help  decide.  And  in  deciding 
remember  that  you  are  deciding  not  alone  for  the  Negro,  but 
whether  you  will  have  8,000,000  of  our  people  in  this  country, 
or  a  race  nearly  as  large  as  the  population  of  Mexico,  a  nation 
within  a  nation,  that  will  be  a  burden,  a  menace  to  your  civil- 
ization; that  will  be  continually  threatening  and  degrading 
your  institutions,  or  whether  you  will  make  him  a  potent, 
emphatic  factor  in  your  civilization  and  commercial  life. 
•  "What  was  three  hundred  years  in  doing  cannot  be  undone 
in  thirty  years.  You  cannot  graft  a  fifteenth  century  civili- 
zation into  a  twentieth  century  civilization  by  the  mere  per- 
formance of  mental  gymnastics.  An  educated  man  on  the 
streets  with  his  hands  in  his  pockets  is  not  one  whit  more 
benefit  to  society  than  an  ignorant  man  on  the  streets  with 
his  hands  in  his  pockets. 

"What  are  some  of  the  conditions  in  the  South  that  need 
your  urgent  help  and  attention?     Eighty-five  per  cent  of  my 


310  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

people  in  the  Gulf  States  are  on  the  plantations  in  the  coun- 
try districts,  where  a  large  majority  are  still  in  ignorance, 
without  habits  of  thrift  or  economy;  are  in  debt,  mortgag- 
ing their  crops  to  secure  food;  paying,  or  attempting  to  pay,  a 
rate  of  interest  that  ranges  between  twenty  and  forty  per  cent. ; 
living  in  one-room  cabins  on  rented  lands,  where  schools  are 
in  session  (in  these  country  districts)  from  three  to  four 
months  in  the  year;  taught  in  places,  as  a  rule,  that  have  little 
resemblance  to  school-houses.  What  state  of  morality  or 
practical  Christianity  you  may  expect  when  as  many  as  six, 
eight  and  even  ten,  cook,  eat,  sleep,  get  sick  and  die  in  one 
room,  I  need  not  explain.  During  slavery  my  people  reasoned 
thus:  my  body  belongs  to  my  master,  and  taking  master's 
chickens  to  feed  master's  body  is  not  stealing;  or,  as  one  old 
colored  man  said  whose  master  got -too  close,  to  him:  'Now, 
massa,  while  youse  got  a  few  less  chickens,  youse  got  a  good 
deal  more  nigger. '  You  must  not  be  surprised  if  our  people 
use  something  of  this  kind  of  logic  in  reference  to  the  present 
mortgage  system. 

"If  in  the  providence  of  God  the  Negro  got  any  good 
out  of  slavery  he  got  the  habit  of  work.  As  is  true 
of  any  race,  we  have  a  class  about  bar-rooms  and  street 
corners,  but  the  rank  and  file  of  the  Negro  race  works  from 
year  to  year.  Whether  the  call  for  labor  comes  from  the 
cotton  fields  of  Mississippi,  the  rice  swamps  of  the  Carolinas, 
or  the  sugar  bottoms  of  Louisiana,  the  Negro  answers  that 
call.  Yes,  toil  is  the  badge  of  all  his  tribe,  but  the  trouble 
centers  here:  by  reason  of  his  ignorance  and  want  of  training 
he  does  not  know  how  to  utilize  the  results  of  his  labor.  His 
earnings  go  for  high  rents,  in  mortgages,  whiskey,  snuff, 
cheap  jewelry;  clocks  are  often  bought  on  the  installment 
plan  for  twelve  and  fourteen  dollars,  when  everything  else  in 
the  cabin  is  not  worth  that  much  money,  and  in  five  cases 
out  of  ten  not  a  single  member  of  the  family  can  tell  nine 
o'clock  from  twelve  o'clock. 

"Ten  years  ago  there  went  out  from  one  of  the  institutions 


IN    HISTORY,     AND    IN    CITIZENSHI1\  jjjll 

in  the  South,  fostered  and  helped  by  your  generosity,  a  young 
man  into  one  of  these  plantation  districts,  where  he  found 
conditions  such  as  I  have  described.  He  took  three  months' 
public  school  course  as  a  nucleus  for  his  work.  Then  he 
organized  the  older  people  into  a  club  that  came  together 
every  week.  In  these  meetings,  in  a  plain,  common-sense 
manner,  he  taught  the  people  thrift,  how  to  economize,  how 
to  stop  mortgaging  their  crops,  how  to  live  on  bread  and 
potatoes,  if  need  be,  till  they  could  get  out  of  debt;  showed 
them  how  to  take  the  money  that  they  had  hitherto  scattered 
to  the  wind  and  concentrate  it  in  the  direction  of  their  in- 
dustrial, educational  and  religious  uplifting.  Go  with  me 
to  that  community  today  and  I  will  show  you  a  people  full 
of  hope  and  delight.  I  will  show  you  a  people  almost  wholly 
free  from  debt,  living  on  well-cultivated  farms  of  their  own, 
in  cottages  with  two  and  three  rooms,  schools  lasting  eight 
months,  taught  in  a  nice,  comfortable,  frame  school-house. 
Go  with  me  into  their  church  and  Sunday-school,  through 
the  model  farm  and  house  of  this  teacher,  and  I  will  show 
you  a  community  that  has  been  redeemed,  revolutionized  in 
industry,  education  and  religion  by  reason  of  the  fact  that 
they  had  this  leader,  this  guide,  this  object-lesson  to  show 
them  how  to  direct  their  own  efforts. 

"It  is  to  this  kind  of  work  we  must  look  for  the  solution  of 
the  race  problem.  My  people  do  not  need  charity,  neither 
do  they  ask  that  charity  be  scattered  among  them;  very 
seldom  in  any  part  of  this  country  you  see  a  black  hand 
reached  out  for  charity;  but  they  do  ask  that,  through  Lin- 
coln and  Biddle  and  Scotia  and  Hampton  and  Tuskegee  you 
send  them  leaders  to  guide  and  stimulate  them  till  they  are 
able  to  walk.  Such  institutions  need  reinforcement  and 
strengthening  many  fold. 

0  4  'The  greatest  injury  that  my  people  suffered  in  slavery  was 
to  be  deprived  of  the  exercise  of  that  executive  power,  that 
sense  of  self-dependence,  which  are  the  glory  and  the  dis- 
tinction of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race.  For  three  centuries  we 
20 


312  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

were  taught  to  depend  upon  some  one  else  for  food,  clothing, 
shelter,  and  for  every  move  in  life,  and  you  cannot  expect  a 
race  to  renounce  at  once  the  teaching  of  centuries  without 
guidance  and  leadership. 

"Coupled  with  literary  and  religious  training  must  go  a 
force  that  will  result  in  the  improvement  of  the  material 
and  industrial  condition.  In  Alabama  we  find  it  a  pretty 
hard  thing  to  make  a  good  Christian  of  a  hungry  man.  It 
is  only  as  the  Negro  is  taught  to  mix  in  with  his  religious 
fervor  and  emotion  habits  of  industry,  economy,  land,  houses 
with  two  or  three  rooms,  and  a  little  bank  account,  just  as 
the  white  man  does,  that  he  will  have  a  Christianity  that 
will  be  worthy  of  the  name. 

"What  of  your  white  brethren  in  the  South?  Those  who 
suffered  and  are  still  suffering  the  consequences  of  American 
slavery  for  which  you  and  they  were  responsible,  what  is 
the  task  you  ask  them  to  perform?  You  of  the  great  and 
prosperous  North  still  owe  to  your  less  fortunate  Caucasian 
brethren  of  the  South,  not  less  than  to  yourselves,  a  serious  and 
uncompleted  duty.  Returning  to  their  destitute  homes  after 
years  of  war,  to  face  blasted  hopes,  devastation,  a  shattered 
industrial  system,  you  asked  them  to  add  to  their  burdens  that 
of  preparing  in  education ,  politics  and  economics,  in  a  few  short 
years,  for  citizenship,  four  or  five  millions  of  former  slaves. 
That  the  South,  staggering  under  the  burden,  made  blun- 
ders; that  in  some  measure  there  has  been  disappointment, 
no  one  need  be  surprised. 

"The  American  church  has  never  yet  comprehended  its 
duty  to  the  millions  of  poor  whites  in  the  South  who  were 
buffeted  for  two  hundred  years  between  slavery  and  freedom, 
between  civilization  and  degradation,  who  were  disregarded 
by  both  the  master  and  the  slave.  It  needs  no  prophet  to 
tell  the  character  of  our  future  civilization  when  the  poor 
white  boy  in  the  country  districts  of  the  South  is  in  school 
three  months,  and  your  boy  in  school  ten  months;  when  the 
poor  white  boy  receives  one  dollar's  worth  of  education,  and 


IN   HISTORY,    AND    IN.  CITIZENSHIP.  313 

your  boy  twenty  dollars'  worth;  when  one  never  enters  a 
library  or  reading-room,  and  the  other  has  libraries  and 
reading-rooms  in  every  ward  and  town;  when  one  hears  lect- 
ures or  sermons -once  in  two  months,  and  the  other  can  hear 
a  "lecture  or  sermon  every  day.  My  friends,  there  is  no 
escape;  you  must  help  us  raise  our  civilization  or  yours  will 
be  lowered.  When  the  South  is  poor,  you  are  poor;  when 
the  South  is  ignorant,  you  are  ignorant;  when  the  South 
commits  crime,  you  commit  crime.  When  you  help  the 
South,  you  help  yourselves.  Mere  abuse  will  not  bring  the 
remedy.  The  time  has  come,  it  seems  to  me,  when  in  this 
matter  we  should  rise  above  party,  or  race,  or  color,  or  sec- 
tionalism, into  the  region  of  duty  of  man  to  man,  citizen  to 
citizen,  Christian  to  Christian;  and  if  the  Negro  can  help 
you,  North  and  South,  to  rise,  can  be  the  medium  of  your 
rising  into  the  atmosphere  of  generous  Christian  broth- 
erhood and  self-forgetf ulness,  he  will  see  in  it  a  recompense 
for  all  that  he  has  suffered  in  the  past.  When  you  help  the 
poor  whites,  you  help  the  Negro. 

"In  considering  the  relation  of  the  races  in  the  South,  I 
thank  God  that  I  have  grown  to  the  point  where  I  can  sym- 
pathize with  a  white  man  as  much  as  I  can  with  a  black  man; 
where  I  can  sympathize  with  a  Southern  white  man  as  much 
as  I  can  with  a  Northern  white  man.  To  me  a  man  is  but 
a  man  'for  a'  that  and  a'  that.'  I  propose  that  no  man  shall 
drag  me  down  by  making  me  hate  him.  No  race  can  hate 
another  race  without  itself  being  narrowed  and  hated.  The 
race  problem  will  work  itself  out  in  proportion  as  the  black 
man,  by  reason  of  his  skill,  intelligence  and  character,  can 
produce  something  that  the  white  man  wants  or  respects. 
One  race  respects  another  in  proportion  as  it  contributes  to  the 
markets  of  the  world,  hence  the  value  of  industrial  training. 
The  black  man  that  has  mortgages  on  a  dozen  white  men's 
houses  will  have  no  trouble  in  voting.  The  black  man  that 
spends  ten  thousand  dollars  a  year  in  freight  charges  can 
select  his  own  seat  in  a  railroad  car,  else  a  Pullman  palace 


314  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

car  will  be  put  on  for  him.  When  the  black  man,  by  reason 
of  his  knowledge  of  the  chemistry  of  the  soil  and  improved 
methods  of  agriculture,  can  produce  forty  bushels  of  corn  on 
an  acre  of  land,  while  his  white  brother  produces  only  twenty 
bushels,  the  white  man  will  come  to  the  black  man  to  learn, 
and  they,  will  be  good  friends.  The  black  man  that  has  fifty 
thousand  dollars  to  lend  will  never  want  for  friends  and  cus- 
tomers among  his  white  neighbors.  It  is  right  and  important 
that  all  the  privileges  granted  to  us  by  the  constitution  be 
ours;  but  it  is  vastly  more  important  to  us  that  we  be  pre- 
pared for  the  exercise  of  those  privileges. 

"Those  who  died  and  suffered  on  the  battlefield  performed 
their  duty  heroically  and  well;  but  a  duty  remains  for  you 
and  me.  The  mere  fiat  of  law  could  not  make  a  dependent 
man  an  independent  man;  could  not  make  an  ignorant  voter 
an  intelligent  voter;  could  not  make  one  man  respect  another. 
These  results  come  to  the  Negro,  as  to  all  races,  by  begin- 
ning at  the  bottom  and  gradually  working  toward  the  highest 
civilization  and  accomplishments.  Unfortunately,  for  lack 
of  leadership  and  guidance,  my  race,  on  the  threshold  of 
freedom,  began  at  the  top  instead  of  the  bottom;  we  have 
spent  time  and  money  attending  political  conventions,  in 
attempting  to  go  to  Congress,  that  could  have  better  been 
spent  in  becoming  a  real  estate  dealer  or  carpenter,  or  in 
starting  a  dairy  farm,  and  thus  having  laid  the  foundation  of 
the  highest  citizenship. 

"In  conclusion,  my  countrymen,  I  make  no  selfish  plea; 
it  is  a  plea  to  save  yourselves.  Let  us  do  our  duty  and  the 
keeper  of  us  all  will  perform  His.  The  Negro  can  afford 
to  be  wronged;  the  white  man  cannot  afford  to  wrong  him. 

"Never  since  the  day  that  we  left  Africa's  shores  have  we 
lost  faith  in  you  or  in  God.  We  are  a  patient,  humble  peo- 
ple; there  is  plenty  in  this  country  for  us  to  do.  We  can 
afford  to  work  and  wait.  The  workers  up  in  the  atmosphere 
of  goodness,  long  suffering,  and  forbearance  and  forgiveness 
are  not  many  or  overcrowded.  If  others  choose  to  be  mean, 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP. 


315 


we  can  be  good;  if  others  push  us  down,  we  can  help  push 
them  up.  No  harm  can  cqme  to  the  black  man  that  does 
not  harm  the  white  man. 

"Think,  under  God's  help  and  yours,  from  whence  we 
have  come,  spurred  and  cheered  on  in  the  darkest  hour  by 
our  midnight  groans,  our  songs,  and  bef ore-day  prayers  and 
an  inherent  faith  in  the  justice  of  our  cause.  We  went  into 
slavery  property,  we  came  put  citizens;  we  went  into  slavery 
pagans,  we  came  out  Christians;  we  went  into  slavery  with- 
out a  language,  we  came  out  speaking  the  proud  Agio-Saxon 
tongue;  we  went  into  slavery  with  the  slave  chains  clanking 
about  our  wrists,  we  came  out  with  the  American  ballot  in 
our  hands.  This,  this  is  our  past.  I  ask  the  church  to  say 
what  shall  be  the  future." 


DEAN'S  RESIDENCE,  VIRGINIA  UNION  UNIVERSITY. 


CHAPTER  XII. 
THE  COLLEGE-BRED  NEGRO. 

I*    SCOPE  OF  THE  INQUIRY,   dOLLEGES  BY  GROUPS,    ETC. 

A  TLANTA  UNIVERSITY  is  an  institution  for  the  higher 
f»  education  of  Negro  youth.  It  seeks,  by  maintaining 
a  high  standard  of  scholarship  and  deportment,  to  sift  out 
and  train  thoroughly  talented  members  of  this  race  to  be 
leaders  of  thought  and  missionaries  of  culture  aniong  the 
masses. 

Furthermore,  it  recognizes  that  it  is  its  duty  as  a  seat  of 
learning  to  throw  as  much  light  as  possible  upon  the  intri- 
cate social  problems  affecting  these  masses,  for  the  enlight- 
enment of  its  graduates  and  of  the  general  public.  It  has, 
therefore,  for  the  last  five  years  (1896-1900)  sought  to  unite 
its  own  graduates,  the  graduates  of  similar  institutions,  and 
educated  Negroes  in  general  throughout  the  South,  in  an 
effort  to  study  carefully  and  thoroughly  certain  definite 
aspects  of  the  Negro  problem. 

Graduates  of  Fisk  University,  Berea  College,  Lincoln 
University,  Spelman  Seminary,  Clark  University,  Wilher- 
force  University,  Howard  University,  the  Maharry  Medical 
College,  Hampton  and  Tuskegee  Institutes,  and  several 
other  institutions  have  joined  in  this  movement  and  added 
their  efforts  to  those  of  the  graduates  of  Atlanta,  and  have, 
in  the  last  five  years,  helped  to  conduct  five  investiga- 
tions: One  in  1896  into  the  "Mortality  of  Negroes  in 
Cities;"  another  in  1897  into  the  "General  Social  and  Phys- 
ical Condition"  of  5, 000  Negroes  living  in  selected  parts  of 
certain  Southern  cities;  a  third  in  1898  on  "Some  Efforts  of 
American  Negroes  For  Their  Own  Social  Betterment;"  a 
fourth  in  1899  into  the  number  of  Negroes  in  business  and 

317 


318  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

their  success „  Finally  in  1900  inquiry  lias  been  made  into 
the  number,  distribution,  occupations  and  success  of  col- 
lege-bred Negroes. 

The  results  of  this  last  investigation  are  presented  in  the 
following  pages,  as  taken  from  the  published  reports  and 
adapted  to  this  work. 

The  general  idea  of  the  Atlanta  Conference  is  to  select 
among  the  various  and  intricate  questions  arising  from  the 
presence  of  the  Negro  in  the  South,  certain  lines  of  investi- 
gation which  will  be  at  once  simple  enough  to  be  pursued  by 
voluntary  effort,  and  valuable  enough  to  add  to  our  scientific 
knowledge.  At  the  same  time  the  different  subjects  studied 
each  year  have  had  a  logical  connection,  and  will  in  time 
form  a  comprehensive  whole.  The  starting-point  was  the 
large  death-rate  of  the  Negroes;  this  led  to  a  study  of  their 
condition  of  .life,  and  the  efforts  they  were  making  to  better 
that  condition.  These  efforts,  when  studied,  brought  clearly 
to  light  the  hard  economic  struggle  through  which  the  eman- 
cipated slave  is  today  passing,  and  the  Conference,  therefore, 
took  up  one  phase  of  this  last  year.  This  year  the  relation 
of  educated  Negroes  to  these  problems  and  especially  to  the 
economic  crisis  was  studied. 

The  general  method  of  making  these  inquiries  is  to  dis- 
tribute among  a  number  of  selected  persons  throughout  the 
South,  carefully  prepared  schedules.  Care  is  taken  to  make 
the  questions  few  in  number,  simple  and  direct,  and  so  far  as 
possible,  incapable  of  misapprehension.  The  investigators 
to  whom  these  blanks  are  sent  are  usually  well-educated 
Negroes,  long  resident  in  the  communities;  by  calling  on  the 
same  persons  for  aid  year  after  year,  a  body  of  experienced 
correspondents  has  been  gradually  formed,  numbering  now 
about  fifty. 

In  the  investigation  of  1900  the  first  task  was  to  collect  a 
reliable  list  of  the  Negro  graduates  of  the  colleges  of  the  land, 
with  their  present  whereabouts.  There  were  many  prelim- 
inary difficulties  in  this  work,  the  chief  of  which  were,  first, 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  319 

what  was  to  be  considered  a  college,  and  next,  how  were  the 
Negro  -graduates  of  mixed  institutions  to  be  distinguished? 
It  was  finally  decided  to  call  any  institution  a  college  which 
had  a  course  amounting  to  at  least  one  year  in  addition  to 
the  course  of  the  ordinary  New  England  high  school ;  and  to 
count  the  graduates  of  all  such  courses  and  longer  courses  as 
college  graduates,  provided  they  received  the  degree  of 
Bachelor  of  Arts  or  of  Science  at  graduation.  Having  se- 
lected the  institutions,  the  Conference  then  sent  to  them  for 
lists  arid  addresses  of  their  graduates,  which  were  for  the 
most  part  printed  in  their  catalogues  k  In  the  case  of  other 
colleges,  letters  were  sent  asking  if  the  college  had  ever  had 
any  Negro  graduates.  Most  of  these  letters  brought  prompt 
and  courteous  replies.  In  some  cases  the  replies  were  de- 
layed. The  returns  thus  collected  represent  probably  over 
ninety  per  cent,  of  the  truth.  In  some  few  cases,  no  records 
of  color  being  kept,  the  authorities  were  not  sure  as  to  the 
exact  number  of  Negro  graduates.  Usually,  however,  the 
presence  of  Negroes  is  so  exceptional  that  they  were  remem- 
bered. 

In  this  way  the  names  of  nearly  2,500  persons  were  col- 
lected. The  matter  of  getting  the  exact  addresses  of  these 
graduates  was  of  course  much  more  difficult  and  in  many 
cases  impossible.  Returns  were  gathered  from  a  little  over 
half  (1252)  of  those  named,  and  not  all  these  were  complete. 
The  following  twenty -six  questions  were  asked  all  whose 
addresses  were  obtained: 

1.  Name.  2.  Address.  3.  Sex.  4.  Graduate  of!  5.  Class 
of.  6.  Single,  married,  widowed  or  separated.  7.  Birthplace. 
8.  Year  of  birth.  9.  Year  of  your  wife's  (or  husband's) 
birth.  10.  Year  of  marriage.  11.  Children.  12.  Some 
account  of  your  early  life.  13.  Occupation  since  graduation, 
with  dates.  14.  Present  occupation  (with  length  of  service). 
15.  If  you  have  taught  school  at  any  time,  kindly  estimate 
carefully:  The  total  number  of  pupils  you  have  instructed  in 
primary  grades;  in  secondary  and  preparatory  grades;  in  col- 


320  THE    NEGRO    IN   REVELATION, 

lege  studies.  How  many  of  these  have  taught  school? 
How  many  pupils  do  you  suppose  they  have  taught?  What 
careers  have  your  pupils  followed  mostly?  Give  any  indi- 
vidual instances  of  success  among  them.  16.  What  bound 
books  have  you  published?  17.  What  other  literary  work 
have  you  done?  18.  What  philanthropic,  commercial  or 
other  useful  work,  not  already  mentioned,  have  you  en- 
gaged in?  19.  What  public  offices  have  you  held  and  where? 
20.  Do  you  usually  vote?  21.  Do  you  belong  to  any  learned 
societies?  22.  From  what  institutions  have  you  received 
academic  degrees  since  graduation?  23.  What  is  the  assessed 
value  of  the  real  estate  which  you  own?  24.  Has  your 
college  training  benefited  you?  Would  some  other  kind  of 
training  have  been  of  more  service?  25.  Will  you  not  add 
here  any  additional  facts  which  illustrate  the  kind  of  work 
you  are  doing,  and  the  degree  of  success  you  have  had? 
26.  Are  you  hopeful  for  the  future  of  the  Negro  in  this 
country?  Have  you  any  suggestions? 

These  questions  were  framed  with  the  view  of  obtaining 
the  largest  possible  number  of  actual  facts.  The  chief  defect 
of  the  method  is  of  course  that  the  persons  are  giving  in  for- 
mation about  them  selves;  still  there  is  little  chance  for  uncon- 
scious exaggeration  or  bias,  and  the  number  of  willful  mis- 
representations among  such  a  class  is  small  enough  to  ignore. 
Some  correspondence  was  also  had  with  the  presidents  of 
colleges  and  others  on  the  general  aspects  of  the  question. 

Omitting  all  institutions  which  have  not  actually  grad- 
uated students  from  a  college  course,  there  are  today  in  the 
United  States  thirty-four  institutions  giving  collegiate  train- 
ing to  Negroes  and  designed  especially  for  this  race.*  These 
institutions  fall  into  five  main  groups: 

GROUP  I.  Ante-Bellum  Schools,  3. — Lincoln  University, 
Chester  county,  Pennsylvania;  Wilberforce  University, 
Greene  county,  Ohio;  (Berea  College,  Berea,  Kentucky). 

*  This  includes  Berea,  where  the  majority  of  students  are  white,  but  which  wr.3 
designed  for  Negroes  as  well,  and  still  has  colored  students. 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP. 


321 


GROUP  II.  Freedmari's  Bureau  Schools,  13.  —  Howard 
University,  Washington,  D.  C.;  Fisk  University,  Nashville,. 
Tennessee;  Atlanta  University,  Atlanta,  Georgia;  Biddle 
University,  Charlotte,  North  Carolina;  Southland  College, 
Helena,  Arkansas;  Central  Tennessee  College,  Nashville, 
Tennessee;  Rust  University,  Holly  Springs,  Mississippi; 
Straight  University,  New  Orleans,  Louisiana;  Claflin  Uni- 
versity, Orangeburg,  South  Carolina;  Talladega  College, 


ATHLETIC  FIELD.  ROGER  WILLIAMS  1'XIVEkSITY,  NASHVILLE,  TENNESSEE. 

Talladega,  Alabama;  Lincoln  Institute,  Jefferson  City,  Mis- 
souri; Atlanta  Baptist  College,  Atlanta.  Georgia;  Roger 
Williams  University,  Nashville,  Tennessee. 

GROUP  III.  Church  Schools,  9. — Leland  University ,  New 
Orleans,  Louisiana;  New  Orleans  University,  New  Orleans, 
Louisiana;  Shaw  University,  Raleigh,  North  Carolina; 
Knoxville  College,  Knoxville,  Tennessee;  Clark  University, 
Atlanta,  Georgia;  Wiley  University,  Marshall,  Texas;  Paine 
Institute,  Augusta,  Georgia:  Philander  Smith  College,  Little 

21 


322  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

Rock,  Arkansas;  Benedict  College,  Columbia,  South  Caro- 
lina. 

GROUP  IV.  Schools  of  Negro  Church  Bodies,  5. — Allen 
University,  Columbia,  South  Carolina;  Livingstone  College, 
Salisbury,  North  Carolina;  Morris  Brown  College,  Atlanta, 
Georgia;  Arkansas  Baptist  College,  Little  Rock,  Arkansas; 
Paul  Quinn  College,  Waco,  Texas. 

GROUP  V.  State  Colleges,  4. — Branch  Normal  College, 
etc.,  Pine  Bluff,  Arkansas;  Virginia  N.  &  C.  Institute, 
Petersburg,  Virginia;  Georgia  State  Industrial  College, 
Savannah,  Georgia;  Delaware  State  College,  etc.,  Dover, 
Delaware. 

The  number  of  graduates  from  the  foregoing  list  of  colleges 
is  as  follows: 

Lincoln  University,  615;  Wilberforce  University,  130; 
Howard  University,  96;  (Berea  College,  29;)  Leland  Uni- 
versity, 16;  Benedict  College,  3;  Fisk  University,  180; 
Atlanta  University,  85;  Biddle  University,  140;  Southland 
College,  19;  Roger  Williams  University,  76;  Central  Ten- 
nessee College,  46;  New  Orleans  University,  30;  Shaw  Uni- 
versity, 101;  Rust  University,  30;  Straight  University,  11; 
Branch  College,  Arkansas,  9;  Claflin  University,  46;  Knox- 
ville  College,  44;  Clark  University,  21;  Alcoru  Universityf 
98,  Wiley  University,  9;  Paine  Institute,  11;  Allen  Uni- 
versity, 24;  Livingstone  College,  38;  Philander  Smith  Col- 
lege, 29;  Talladega  College,  5;  Virginia  Normal  and 
Collegiate  Institute,  27;  Paul  Quinn  College,  18;  Lincoln 
Institute,  6;  Morris  Brown  College,  6;  Atlanta  Baptist  Col- 
lege, 7;  Georgia  State  Industrial  College,  1;  Delaware  State 
College,  2. 

In  most  cases  the  college  departments  of  these  institutions 
are  but  adjuncts,  and  sometimes  unimportant  adjuncts,  to 
other  departments  devoted  to  secondary  and  primary  work. 
A  comparison  of  colleges  for  this  purpose  will  be  of  interest. 

tThis  State  institution  confers  the  degree  of  B.  S.,  but  is  rather  an  agricul- 
tural high  school  than  a  college. 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  323 

In  the  single  school  year  1898-1899  we  find  726  Negro  col- 
legians in  the  colleges  specially  designed  for  them;  or  adding 
the  few  others  not  counted  here,  we  have  possibly  750  such 
students.  If  these  students  are  of  college  grade  according 
to  a  fair  standard,  we  have  here  apparently  work  for  per- 
haps ten  Negro  colleges,  now  being  done  by  thirty  or  more 
institutions.  It  is  not,  however,  by  any  means  certain  that 
all  these  students  are  really  of  college  grade.  A  study  of 
the  curricula  will  throw  some  light  on  this  question. 

Curricula  in  Negro  Colleges. — If,  for  convenience,  we 
take  only  those  colleges  that  have  twenty  or  more  students 
and  consider  them  as  representative,  we  find  that  for  admis- 
sion to  the  Freshman  class  the  course  of  study  they  require 
ranges  from  one  to  three  years  behind  the  smaller  New  Eng- 
land  colleges,  while  a  large  proportion  are  but  little  in  ad- 
vance of  the  ordinary  New  England  high  school.  So  that  of 
the  750  students,  probably  not  more  than  350  are  of  college 
rank  according  to  New  England  standards. 

After  admission  the  course  of  study  as  laid  down  in  the 
catalogues  of  eleven  colleges  is  about  as  follows: 

Freshman  Year. — English,  Latin,  Greek,  Mathematics, 
the  Bible.* 

Sophomore  Year. — English,  Latin,  Greek,  Mathematics, 
the  Bible,  History,  Physical  Geography,  Physics,  Philos- 
ophy, f 

Junior  Year. — English,  Latin,  Greek,  Mathematics,  the 
Bible,  Physics,  Chemistry,  Physiology,  Philosophy. 

Senior  Year. — English,  Latin,  Greek,  Mathematics,  the 
Bible,  Geology,  History,  Modern  Languages. 

Of  course,  the  studies  vary  somewhat  in  the  different  insti- 
tutions, but  the  above  is  a  fair  average. 

If  we  combine  these  studies  and  assume  that  fifteen  to  sev- 
enteen hours  per  week  of  recitations  represent  the  work  of 
an  average  student,  we  get  the  following  average  hours  of 
recitation  per  week  for  the  year  for  each  study: 

*  Some  colleges  add  a  course  in  Rhetoric. 

t  Some  colleges  add  Botany  and  Modern  Languages. 


324  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

Freshmen. — Latin,  4£;  Greek,  4£;  mathematics,  4f;  Eng- 
lish, If;  other  studies,  2. 

Sophomores. — Latin,  4;  Greek,  4;  mathematics,  3f ;  Eng- 
lish, 1;  history,  2;  natural  science,  3;  civics,  1J;  modern 
languages,  4i;  other  studies,  \\. 

Juniors  * — Latin,  3i;  Greek,  3f ;  mathematics,  3;  English, 
2|;  history,  2;  natural  science,  4f;  political  science,  4;  mod- 
ern languages,  4;  psychology  and  philosophy,  2;  other  stud- 
ies, If. 

Seniors.* — Latin,  3;  Greek,  2^;  mathematics,  3;  English, 
2;  history,  2;  natural  science,  4;  political  science,  2£;  mod- 
ern languages,  2i;  psychology,  etc.,  4f ;  other  studies,  If. 

In  the  case  of  schools  which  do  not  publish  the  exact  pro- 
portion in  which  their  time  is  divided  among  the  subjects 
catalogued,  the  most  probable  division  according  to  school 
customs  has  been  assumed  by  the  editor,  so  that  the  above  is 
only  approximately  jcorrect.  The  errors,  however,  are  prob- 
ably small  and  unimportant. 

Of  the  equipment  of  these  colleges  there  are  few  data  for 
comparison.  Some,  like  Howard,  Fisk,  Atlanta  and  Lin- 
coln, are  very  well  housed,  and  nearly  all  have  fairly  com- 
fortable quarters.  Few,  if  any,  have  teachers  who  devote 
themselves  to  college  work  exclusively;  some  have  laborato- 
ries for  natural  science  work.  The  library  facilities  are 
reported  as  follows:  Lincoln,  15,750  volumes;  Howard,  13,000 
volumes;  Atlanta,  11,000  volumes;  Biddle,  10,500  volumes; 
Fisk,  6,632  volumes;  Wilberforce,  5,500  volumes;  Paul 
Quinn,  1,000  volumes. 

Negroes  have  attended  Northern  colleges  for  many  years. 
As  early  as  1826  one  was  graduated  from  Bowdoin  College, 
and  from  that  time  till  today  nearly  every  year  has  seen 
other  such  graduates.  Oberlin  has  more  Negro  graduates 
by  far  than  any  other  Northern  college.  The  colleges  in 
the  order  of  the  number  of  Negroes  graduated  are  as  follows: 

Among  the  Larger  Universities. — Harvard,  11;  Yale,  10; 

*  The  average  is  given  for  those  taking  the  studies  named,  only. 


IN    HISTOKY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  325 

University  of  Michigan,  10;  Cornell,  8;  Columbia,  4;  Uni- 
versity of  Pennsylvania,  4;  Catholic  University,  3;  Univer- 
sity of  Chicago,  2;  Leland  Stanford,  2.  Total,  54. 

Among  Colleges  of  Second  Rank — Oberlin,  128;  University 
of  Kansas,  16;  Bates  College,  15;  Colgate  University,  9; 
Brown,  8;  Dartmouth,  7;  Amherst,  7;  Ohio  State  University, 
7;  Bucknell  University,  7;  Williams,  4;  Boston  University, 
3;  University  of  Minnesota,  3;  Indiana  University,  3;  Adel- 
bert  College,  3;  Beloit  College,  3;  Colby  University,  3; 
State  University  of  Iowa,  2;  University  of  Nebraska,  2; 
Wesleyan  University  (Connecticut),  2;  Radcliffe  College,  2; 
Wellesley  College,  2;  Northwestern  University,  1;  Rutgers 
College,  1;  Bowdoin  College,  1;  Hamilton  College,  1;  New 
York  University,  1;  University  of  Rochester,  1;  University 
of  Denver,  1;  De  Pauw  University,  1;  Mount  Holyoke  Col- 
lege, 1;  Vassar  College,  1.  Total,  246. 

Among  Other  Colleges. — University  of  South  Carolina, 
10;  Geneva  College,  9;  Hillsdale  College,  7;  LaFayette 
College,  6;  Iowa  Wesleyan,  4;  Dennison  University,  4; 
Baldwin  University,  4;  Western  University  of  Pennsylvania, 
3;  Hiram  College,  3;  Wittenberg  College,  3;  Butler's  Col- 
lege, 3;  Westminster  College,  3;  St.  Stephen's  College,  3; 
Antioch  College,  3;  Tabor  College,  2;  Knox  College,  2; 
Washburn  College,  2;  Adrian  College,  2;  Washington  and 
Jefferson  College,  2;  Ohio  Wesleyan  University,  2;  Lombard 
College,  1;  Otterbein  College,  1;  S.  W.  Kansas  College,  1; 
Alleghany  College,  1;  Olivet  College,  1;  Albion  College,  1; 
University  of  Idaho,  1;  Iowa  College,  1;  Upper  Iowa  Uni- 
versity, 1;  University  of  Omaha,  1;  McKendree  College,  1; 
Illinois  College,  1;  Ohio  University,  1.  Total,  90.  Grand 
Total,  390. 

If  we  divide  these  graduates  among  the  sections  of  the 
country,  we  have:  Middle  West,  250;  New  England,  78; 
Middle  Atlantic  States,  44;  South,  10;  Border  States,  3;  Pa- 
cific States,  5. 

Most  of  the   colleges    addressed   confined   themselves  in 


326 


THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 


answering  to  a  simple  list  of  graduates;  some,  however,  added 
information  as  to  the  character  of  black  students  which  is  of 
considerable  value,  being  unsolicited.  From  the  University 
of  Kansas  we  learn  (January,  1900): 

"I  am  pleased  to  state  that  this  year  we  have  twice  as 
many  colored  students  in  attendance  at  the  university  as 
ever  before.  In  all,  twenty-eight.  The  rule  is  that  no  stu- 
dent shall  be  allowed  to  take  more  than  three  studies.  If 


LIBRARY,  ROGER  WILLIAMS  UNIVERSITY,  NASHVILLE,  TENNESSEE. 

he  fails  in  one  of  the  three,  it  is  a  'single  failure;'  in  two 
of  the  three,  a  'double  failure.'  The  latter  severs  the 
student's  connection  with  the  university.  There  are  one 
thousand  and  ninety  students  in  attendance  at  the  present 
time.  The  semi-annual  examination  was  held  last  week, 
and  as  a  result  there  are  two  hundred  'single  failures'  and 
eighty  'double  failures.'  The  gratifying  part  of  it  is  that 
not  one  of  the  twenty-eight  colored  students  is  in  either 
number." 


IN   HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  327 

From  Bates  College,  Scranton,  Maine,  President  Chase 
writes  (February,  1900):  "We  have  had  about  a  dozen  col- 
ored people  who  have  taken  the  full  course  for  the  degree  of 
A.  B.  at  Bates  College,  one  of  them  a  young  woman.  They 
have  all  of  them  been  students  of  good  character  and  worthy 
purpose."  One  was  a  "remarkably  fine  scholar,  excelling 
in  mathematics  and  philosophy;"  he  was  "one  of  the  editors 
of  the  Bates  Student  while  in  college."  Another  was  "an 
honest,  industrious  man  of  good  ability,  but  of  slight  intel- 
lectual ambition."  A  third  "was  a  good  scholar,  especially 
in  mathematics."  A  fourth  graduated  "with  excellent 
standing.  He  was  a  good,  all-round  scholar,  but  excellent 
in  the  classics."  A  fifth  "acquired  knowledge  with  diffi- 
culty." A  sixth  did  work  "of  a  very  high  order,"  etc. 
The  secretary  of  Oberlin  writes  (February,  1900),  in  sending 
his  list:  "It  is  a  list  containing  men  and  women  of  whom  we 
are  proud."  Colgate  University,  New  York,  writes  of  a 
graduate  of  '74  as  "a  very  brilliant  student  who  was 
graduated  second  best  in  his  class.  It  was  believed  by 
many  that  he  was  actually  the  leader."  A  graduate  of 
Colby  College,  Maine,  is  said  by  the  librarian  to  have  been 
"universally  respected  as  a  student,  being  chosen  class 
orator."  Wittenberg  College,  Ohio,  has  two  colored  gradu- 
ates; "they  were  both  bright  girls  and  stood  well  up  in  their 
respective  classes."  A  Negro  graduate  of  Washburn  Col- 
lege, Kansas,  is  said  by  the  chairman  of  the  faculty  to  be 
1  'one  of  the  graduates  of  the  college  in  whom  we  take  pride. " 
The  dean  of  the  faculty  of  Knox  College,  Illinois,  writes  of 
two  Negro  students,  Senator  Bruce,  of  Mississippi,  and  an- 
other, who  graduated  and  was  remembered  because  of  "his 
distinguished  scholarship."  A  black  student  of  Adrian 
College,  Michigan,  "was  one  of  the  best  mathematicians  I 
ever  had  in  class,"  writes  a  professor.  Adelbert  College,  of 
the  Western  Reserve  University,  Ohio,  has  a  Negro  graduate 
as  acting  librarian,  who  is  characterized  as  "one  of  the  most 
able  men  we  know;"  while  of  another  it  is  said,  "we  expect 

21 


328  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

the  best."  Lombard  University,  Illinois,  has  "heard  favor- 
able reports"  of  its  single  Negro  graduate.  The  dean  of  the 
State  University  of  Iowa  writes  (December,  1899)  of  a 
graduate  of  '98:  "He  distinguished  himself  for  good  scholar- 
ship; and  on  that  ground  was  admitted  to  membership  in  the 
Phi  Beta  Kappa  Society.  He  is  a  man  of  most  excellent 
character  and  good  sense,  and  I  expect  for  him  a  very  hon- 
orable future.  He  won  the  respect  of  all  his  classmates  and 
of  the  faculty.  As  president  of  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  Society, 
I  received  him  into  membership  with  very  great  pleasure  as 
in  every  way  worthy  of  this  honor.  We  have  three  colored 
people  in  the  university  at  present,  two  in  the  college  de- 
partment, and  one  in  law.  You  are  aware  that  we  have  but 
a  small  colored  population  in  Iowa." 

II.  FIRST  NEGRO  GRADUATE;  NUMBER  OF  NEGRO 
GRADUATES,  ETC. 

The  first  American  Negro  to  graduate  from  an  American 
college,  as~~far  as  we  have  been  able  to  learn,  wa<s_John 
I^rown  Russwurm,  of  Bowdoin  College,  Maine,  class  of 
1826.  His  career  is  so  interesting  that  we  present  his  whole 
life  here,  as  found  in  the  History  of  Bowdoin  College,  pp. 
352-354: 

uHe  was  born  in  1799,  at  Port  Antonio,  in  the  Island  of 
Jamaica,  of  a  Creole  mother.  When  eight  years  old  he  was 
put  to  school  in  Quebec.  His  father,  meanwhile,  came  to 
the  United  States,  and  married  in  the  District  of  Maine. 
Mrs.  Russwurm,  true  wife  that  she  was,  on  learning  the  re- 
lationship, insisted  that  John  Brown  (as  hitherto  he  had 
been  called) ,  should  be  sent  for  and  should  thenceforth  be 
one  of  the  family.  The  father  soon  died,  but  his  widow 
proved  herself  a  faithful  mother  to  the  tawny  youth.  She 
sent  him  to  school,  though  in  consequence  of  existing  preju- 
dice it  was  not  always  easy  to  do  so.  She  procured  friends 
for  him. 

Marrying  again,  she  was  careful  to  stipulate  that  John 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  329 

should  not  lose  his  home.  Through  his  own  exertions,  with 
some  help  from  others,  he  was  at  length  enabled  to  enter 
college  and  to  complete  the  usual  course.  From  college 
he  went  to  New  York  and  edited  an  abolition  paper. 
This  did  not  last  long.  He  soon  became  interested  in  the 
colonization  cause  and  engaged  in  the  service  of  the 
society.  In  1829  he  went  to  Africa  as  superintendent  of 
public  schools  in  Liberia,  and  engaged  in  mercantile 
pursuits  at  Monrovia.  From  1830  to  1834  he  acted  as 
colonial  secretary,  superintending  at  the  same  time  and 
editing  with  decided  ability  the  Liberia  Herald.  In  1836 
he  was  appointed  governor  of  the  Maryland  colony  at  Cape 
Palmas,  and  so  continued  until  his  death  in  1851.  With 
what  fidelit}^  and  ability  he  discharged  the  duties  of  this  re- 
sponsible post  may  be  gathered  from  the  following  remarks 
of  Mr.  Latrobe,  at  the  time  president  of  the  Maryland  Col- 
onization Society.  He  was  addressing  the  board  of  man- 
agers: "None  knew  better,"  he  said,  uor  so  well  as  the 
board  under  what  daily  responsibilities  Gov.  Russwurni's 
life  in  Africa  was  passed,  and  how  conscientiously  he  dis- 
charged them;  how,  at  periods  when  the  very  existence  of 
the  then  infant  colony  depended  upon  its  relations  with  sur- 
rounding tribes  of  excited  natives,  his  coolness  and  admir- 
able judgment  obviated  or  averted  impending  perils;  how, 
when  the  authority  and  dignity  of  the  colonial  government 
were  at  stake  in  lamentable  controversies  with  civilized  and 
angry  white  men,  the  calm  decorum  of  his  conduct  brought 
even  his  opponents  over  to  his  side;  how,  when  popular 
clamor  among  the  colonists  called  upon  him  as  a  judge  to 
disregard  the  forms  of  law  and  sacrifice  an  offending  individ- 
ual in  the  absence  of  legal  proof,  he  rebuked  the  angry  mul- 
titude by  the  stern  integrity  of  his  conduct;  and  how,  when 
on  his  visit  to  Baltimore  in  1848  he  was  thanked  personally 
by  the  members  of  the  board,  he  deprecated  the  praise  be- 
stowed upon  him  for  the  performance  of  his  duty,  and  im- 
pres.sed  all  who  saw  him  with  the  modest  manliness  of  his 


330  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

character  and  his  most  excellent  and  courteous  bearing.'' 
Resolutions  expressing  similar  sentiments,  and  the  highest 
approval  of  his  administration  were  passed  by  the  board. 
Dr.  James  Hall,  a  graduate  of  the  Bowdoin  Medical  School, 
the  friend  of  Russwurm,  and  his  predecessor  in  the  chief 
magistracy  of  African  Maryland,  has  delineated  him  with 
apparent  candor.  A  man  of  erect  and  more  than  ordinary 
stature,  with  a  good  head  and  face  and  large,  keen  eye.  In 
deportment  always  gentlemanly.  Of  sound  intellect,  a  great 
reader,  with  a  special  fondness  for  history  and  politics.  Nat- 
urally sagacious  in  regard  to  men  and  things,  and  though 
somewhat  indolent  himself,  exceedingly  skillful  in  making 
others  work.  A  man  of  strict  integrity,  a  good  husband, 
father,  master  and  friend,  and  in  later  life  a  devoted  member 
of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church.  He  married  a  daughter 
of  Lieut. -Gov.  McGill,  of  Monrovia,  and  was  succeeded  in  his 
office  at  Cape  Palmas  by  his  brother-in-law,  Dr.  McGill.  He 
left  three  sons  and  a  daughter." 

Boston  University  writes  of  one  graduate  as  "a  fine  fellow. ' ' 
He  is  now  doing  post-graduate  work  at  Yale,  and  the  agent 
of  the  Capon  Springs  Negro  Conference  writes  (November, 
1900)  that  "I  continually  hear  him  mentioned  in  a  compli- 
mentary way.  On  the  other  hand,  two  Negro  boys  were  in 
the  Freshman  class  not  long  ago  and  were  both  conspicu- 
ously poor  scholars."  Otterbein  University,  Ohio,  has  a 
graduate  who  "was  a  most  faithful  and  capable  student." 
The  dean  of  Dartmouth  College,  New  Hampshire,  writes  (De- 
cember, 1899)  of  their  graduates:  "The  last  two  or  three  are 
hardly  established  in  business  yet,  but  the  others  are  doing 
remarkably  well.  These  men  have  been  in  each  case  fully 
equal  to  if  not  above  the  average  of  their  class.  We  have  been 
very  much  pleased  with  the  work  of  the  colored  men  who  have 
come  to  us.  They  have  been  a  credit  to  themselves  and 
their  race  while  here  and  to  the  college  since  graduation.  I 
wish  we  had  more  such."  The  president  of  Tabor  College, 
Ohio,  says  of  two  colored  graduates:  "They  are  brainy  fel- 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  331 

lows  who  have  done  very  much  good  in  the  world."  A 
graduate  of  Southwest  Kansas  College  "was  one  of  the 
truest,  most  faithful  and  hard-working  students  that  we 
have  ever  had."  One  of  the  most  prominent  Methodist 
ministers  in  Philadelphia  said  to  the  president  of  Alleghany 
College,  Pennsylvania,  speaking  of  a  colored  graduate: 
"Any  college  may  be  proud  to  have  graduated  a  man  like 
him."  The  university  of  Idaho  graduated  in  '98  a  young 
colored  woman  of  "exceptional  ability."  Westminster 
College,  Pennsylvania,  has  graduated  two  Negroes;  "both 
were  excellent  students  and  ranked  high  in  the  estimation 
of  all  who  knew  them."  Of  a  graduate  of  Hamilton  Col- 
lege, New  York,  the  secretary  says:  "He  was  one  of  the 
finest  young  men  we  have  ever  had  in  our  institution.  He 
was  an  earnest  and  consistent  Christian,  and  had  great  influ- 
ence for  good  with  his  fellow-students.  On  leaving  college, 
he  spent  three  years  in  Auburn  Theological  Seminary — was 
licensed  to  preach  by  one  of  our  Northern  Presbyteries,  and 
then  went  to  Virginia — near  Norfolk,  where  he  built  a 
church  and  gave  promise  of  great  usefulness,  when,  about 
two  years  ago,  he  suddenly  sickened  and  died.  He  had 
many  friends  in  Clinton  outside  of  the  college.  He  pre- 
pared for  college  in  the  Clinton  Grammar  School.  On  leav- 
ing the  school  for  college  the  wife  of  the  principal  of  the 
school  made  to  me  the  remark,  that  it  seemed  as  if  the  Spirit 
of  the  Lord  had  departed  from  the  school.  I  received  him 
into  the  church  and  was  his  pastor  for  a  number  of  years. 
Everybody  was  his  friend.  Members  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  of  Clinton  contributed  to  the  erection  of  his  church 
in  Virginia,  and  the  Sunday-school  has  educated  his  sister." 
At  the  larger  colleges  the  record  of  Negro  students  has, 
on  the  whole,  been  good;  at  Harvard  several  have  held 
scholarships,  and  one  a  fellowship;  there  has  been  one  Phi 
Beta  Kappa  man,  one  class  orator,  two  commencement 
speakers,  three  masters  of  arts  and  one  doctor  in  philosophy. 
In  scholarship  the  eleven  graduates  have  stood:  Four  good; 


332  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

three  fair;  two  ordinary,  and  two  poor.  At  Brown  one  of 
the  most  brilliant  students  of  recent  years  was  a  Negro;  he 
was  among  the  junior  eight  elected  to  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa. 
At  Amherst  the  record  of  colored  men  has  been  very  good, 
both  in  scholarship  and  athletics.  A  colored  man  captained 
the  Amherst  football  team  one  year  and  he  is  now  one  of  the 
chief  Harvard  football  coaches.  At  Yale  and  Cornell  col- 
ored men  have  held  scholarships,  and  some  have  made  good 
records. 

Among  the  women's  colleges  the  color  prejudice  is  much 
stronger  and  more  unyielding. 

They  have  one  Negro  graduate  from  Smith  College,  we 
learn:  "Our  first  colored  student  graduated  last  year  with 
the  degree  of  A.  B.  .  .  .  We  also  have  two  students 
of  Negro  descent  in  our  present  senior  class." 

Wellesley  has  had  quite  a  number  of  colored  students,  of 
whom  two  graduated.  "Both  these  young  women  had  more 
than  average  ability  and  one  did  brilliant  work."  Radcliffe 
College,  the  Harvard  "annex,"  has  two  colored  graduates 
who  are  well  spoken  of. 

Beside  the  Negroes  who  have  graduated  from,  these  col- 
leges there  have  been  a  large  number  who  have  pursued  a 
partial  course  but  taken  no  degree.  They  have  dropped  out 
for  lack  of  funds,  poor  scholarship  and  various  reasons.  Then, 
too,  many  institutions  having  no  graduates  have  promising 
candidates  at  present.  The  registrar  of  the  University  of 
Illinois  informs  us  "that  so  far  no  Negro  has  ever  been 
graduated  from  the  University  of  Illinois.  One  member  of 
our  present  senior  class  is  a  Negro,  and  he  will  doubtless  be 
graduated  next  June.  He  is  a  good  scholar  and  is  very  much 
respected  in  the  university.  He  is  this  year  the  editor  of 
the  students'  paper." 

Wabash  College,  Indiana,  "has  had  frequently  colored 
students  enrolled  in  her  classes,  but  none  have  completed 
their  course.  We  have  at  present  two  colored  students  in 
attendance  at  college." 


IN    HISTORY,     AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP 


333 


Dickinson  College,  Pennsylvania,  "has  never  conferred  a 
degree  upon  a  Negro.  We  have  two,  at  the  present  time,  in 
attendance  at  the  college:  one  a  member  of  the  freshmen 
class,  and  the  other  a  member  of  the  junior  class  and  one 
of  the  brightest  scholars  and  most  highly  esteemed  gentlemen 
in  attendance  at  our  institution." 

The  universities  of  Wyoming,  Montana  and  California 
have  all  had  at  one  time  or  another  colored  students.  Syra- 
cuse University  has  three  Negro  students  now,  "especially 
bright  and  promising;"  the  University  of  Vermont  dropped 
two  colored  members  of  the  class  of  '97  "on  account  of 
inability  to  do  the  work."  Wheaton  College,  Illinois,  has 
"had  many  colored  students  and  some  good  ones,  but  no  one 
of  them  has  gained  the  degree  of  A.  B." 

To  sum  up  then:  Negroes  have  graduated  from  Northern 
institutions.  In  most  of  the  larger  universities  they  have 
on  the  whole  made  good  records.  In  the  Western  colleges 
they  have  done  well  in  some  cases,  and  poorly  in  others. 
The  summer  schools  at  Harvard,  Clark  and  the  University 
of  Chicago  have  several  Negro  students.  , 

According  to  the  best  information  the  Conference  has  been 
able  to  gather,  the  total  number  of  Negro  graduates  has  been 

as  follows: 

NEGRO  COLLEGE  GRADUATES: 


1826—1 

1855—1 

1864—  2 

1873-29 

1882—  39 

1891—  99 

1828—1 

1856—5 

1865—  5 

1874—27 

1883—  74 

1892—  70 

1844—1 

1857—1 

1866—  1 

1875—25 

1884—  64 

1893—137 

1845—1 

1858  -1 

1867—  4 

1876-37 

1885—100 

1894—130 

1847—1 

1859—1 

1868—  9 

1877—43 

1886—  94 

1895—130 

1849-1 

1860—6 

1869—11 

1878—37 

1887—  90 

1896—104 

1850—1 

1861—3 

1870—26 

1879—48 

1888—  87 

1897—128 

1851—1 

1862—3 

1871-15 

1880—50 

1889—  85 

1898—144 

1853—3 

1863—1 

1872—26 

1881—54 

1890—  95 

1899—  *57 

TOTAI,, 

2,209 

Class  not  given,  ... 

•    122 

*  Partial  report. 


GRAND  TOTAI,, 


2,331 


One  hundred  graduates  of  colleges  of  doubtful  rank  are 
not  included  here;  these  and  unknown  omissions  may  bring 
the  true  total  up  to  2,500. 


334  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION. 

It  is  plain  that  there  is  a  steady  increase  of  college-bred 
Negroes  from  decade  to  decade,  but  not  a  large  increase. 
There  is  today  about  one  college- trained  person  in  every  3,600 
Negroes.  Since  1876,  1,941  Negroes  have  been  graduated 
from  Negro  colleges  and  390  from  white  colleges. 

We  now  come  to  consider  the  personnel  of  this  group  of 
persons  with  regard  to  birthplace,  age,  sex,  etc.  The  returns 
for  these  particulars  are  only  partial,  and  fuller  for  later  years 
than  for  earlier.  They  seem,  however,  to  be  fairly  typical. 
First  as  to  birthplace  of  650  college-bred  Negroes:  South 
Carolina,  95;  North  Carolina,  80;  Tennessee,  73;  Virginia, 
60;  Georgia,  55;  Mississippi,  48;  Alabama,  34;  Ohio,  34; 
Kentucky,  25;  Maryland,  17;  Indiana,  4;  Massachusetts,  3; 
West  Virginia,  3;  Iowa,  3;  New  Jersey,  2;  Michigan,  2; 
Rhode  Island,  .1;  Connecticut,  1;  Vermont,  1;  Colorado,  1; 
Pennsylvania,  17;  Missouri,  12;  Louisiana,  12;  Illinois,  11; 
District  of  Columbia,  10;  Texas,  9;  Kansas,  9;  New  York, 
5;  Arkansas,  4;  Florida,  4;  Delaware,  1.  In  foreign  lands: 
Hayti,  4;  West  Indies,  3;  West  Africa,  2;  Ontario,  1.  542 
out  of  650  having  been  born  south  of  Mason  and  Dixon's 
line. 

The  most  interesting  question  connected  with  birthplace  is 
that  of  the  migration  of  colored  graduates — that  is,  where 
these  men  finally  settle  and  work.  If  we  arrange  these  650 
graduates  according  to  sections  where  they  were  born  and 
where  they  now  live,  it  appears  that  of  254  college-bred  Ne- 
groes born  in  the  border  states  (i.  e.,  Delaware,  Maryland, 
Virginia,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  North  Carolina,  Missouri 
and  District  of  Columbia),  148,  or  58  per  cent.,  stayed  and 
worked  there;  39,  or  15  per  cent.,  went  further  south;  26, 
or  10  per  cent.,  went  southwest;  12,  or  5  per  cent.,  went  to 
the  middle  west,  etc.  Or,  again: 

Of  73  college  graduates  born  north,  35  stayed  there  and 
38  went  south, 

Of  507  college  graduates  born  south,  443  stayed  there  and 
62  went  north. 


OWEN  W.  L.  SMITH 
Late  U.  S.  Minister  to  the  Republic  of  Liberia. 


336  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

These  statistics  cover  only  about  one-fourth  of  the  total 
number  of  graduates,  but  they  represent  pretty  accurately 
the  general  tendencies,  so  far  as  our  observation  has  gone. 
It  is  therefore  probably  quite  within  the  truth  to  say  that  50 
per  cent,  of  northern-born  college  men  come  south  to  work 
among  the  masses  of  their  people,  at  a  personal  sacrifice 
which  few  people  realize;  that  nearly  90  per  cent,  of  the 
southern -born  graduates,  instead  of  seeking  that  personal 
freedom  and  broader  intellectual  atmosphere  which  their 
training  has  led  them  in  some  degree  to  conceive,  stay  and 
labor  in  the  midst  of  their  black  neighbors  and  relatives. 

There  is  little  in  the  matter  of  early  training  that  lends 
itself  to  statistical  statement,  but  there  is  much  of  human 
interest.  A  number  of  typical  lives  are  therefore  appended, 
which  show  in  a  general  way  the  sort  of  childhood  and  youth 
through  which  these  college-bred  Negroes  have  passed.  First 
as  to  the  men: 

MEN. 

"I  attended  the  public  schools  in  Augusta,  Georgia,  and 
sold  papers,  brushed  boots  and  worked  in  tobacco  facto- 
ries. While  in  college  I  taught  school  in  summer  time." 


"Born  in  Springfield,  Massachusetts,  where  I  attended  the 
public  schools  and  acted  as  driver  and  hotel  waiter.  I  at- 
tended Fisk  University,  and  during  vacations  taught  school, 
worked  in  a  saw  mill,  waited  on  table  and  acted  as  Pullman 
porter." 

"My  parents  were  old  and  poor,  and  I  worked  my  way 
through  school  and  helped  to  support  them  by  manual  labor. ' ' 

"I  came  to  Texas  with  my  parents  about  1876,  and  at- 
tended the  Galveston  public  schools.  I  then  went  to  college, 
assisted  in  part  by  my  parents  and  in  part  by  my  own  efforts. 
The  expenses  of  the  last  two  years  were  paid  by  a  scholar •- 
ship  which  I  won  by  examination." 


TN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  337 

"I  spent  most  of  my  youth  with  my  uncle,  a  merchant  in 
Florence,  South  Carolina,  where  I  attended  the  public  school, 
which  was  poor.  I  afterwards  worked  five  years  on  my 
father's  farm,  and  finally  went  to  college." 


"I  attended  public  schools  in  Virginia,  working  in  white 
families  morning  and  night  for  my  board.  I  then  worked 
my  way  through  a  normal  course,  and  finally  through  Hills- 
dale  College." 


"I  was  a  farmer  before  going  to  school.  My  church  con- 
ference sent  me  to  school.  My  parents  were  poor,  and  my 
mother  died  when  I  was  but  four  years  old." 


"I  came  to  Kansas  when  nine  years  old  and  lived  on  a 
farm  until  I  was  twenty,  neither  seeing  nor  hearing  from  any 
of  my  relations  during  that  time.  In  1871 1  went  to  Oberlin 
and  began  work  in  Ray's  Third  Part  Arithmetic." 


*  'I  was  born  a  slave  in  Prince  Edward  county,  Virginia.  I 
worked  as  a  farmer  and  waiter,  and  then  went  to  Hampton 
Institute.  After  leaving  Hampton  I  helped  my  parents  a 
few  years  and  then  entered  Shaw." 


"I  sold  papers  and  went  to  school  when  a  boy;  I  learned 
the  brickmason  trade  of  my  father.  After  graduating  from 
the  high  school  I  worked  in  the  printing  office  of  a  colored 
paper,  thus  earning  enough  to  go  to  college." 

"I  was  born  in  Calvert  county,  Maryland,  being  one  of 
seven  children.  We  lived  at  first  in  the  log  cabin  which  my 
father  had  built  in  slavery  times.  Soon  we  moved  away 
from  there  and  settled  on  a  farm  which  my  father  commenced 
buying  on  shares.  I  went  to  school,  worked  on  the  farm 
and  taught  school  until  I  was  twenty-two,  when  I  entered 
Lincoln." 


22 


338  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

"I  went  to  a  private  school  at  Thibodaux,  Louisiana,  about 
a  year,  and  also  to  the  Freedmen's  school  under  the  United 
States  government  in  1864-5.  Finally  I  entered  New  Or- 
leans University. " 

"I  was  born  in  Crawford  county,  Georgia.  My  father 
moved  to  Macon,  then  to  Jones  county,  then  back  to  Craw- 
ford county,  then  to  the  town  of  Forsyth,  and  finally  to  the 
State  of  Mississippi.  I  finally  left  home  at  the  age  of  sixteen 
and  roamed  about  for  two  and  a  half  years.  I  saved  some 
money  by  work  on  a  railroad  and  started  to  school." 


"I  was  born  in  Tennessee  and  lived  there  on  a  farm  until  I 
was  thirteen.  Then  we  went  to  Kansas,  and  finally  to  Ar- 
kansas, where  I  went  to  Philander  Smith  College." 


"My  parents,  having  been  slaves,  were  poor.  I  was  the 
fifth  of  ten  children,  and  the  task  of  educating  all  of  us  was 
a  serious  one -for  the  family.  My  parents  made  every  sacri- 
fice, and  at  nine  years  of  age  I  was  helping  by  selling  papers 
on  the  streets  of  Pittsburg,  and  colored  papers  among  the 
Negroes  on  Saturday.  After  completing  the  common  schools 
I  worked  as  elevator  boy  and  bootblack,  and  finally  at  the  age 
of  fifteen  was  enabled  to  enter  the  engineering  course  of  the 
Western  University  of  Pennsylvania." 

"I  was  born  in  Greene  county,  Georgia,  and  lived  on  the 
farm  until  I  was  seventeen.  My  parents  were  poor  and  there 
were  nine  other  children.  I  worked  hard,  saved  my  money, 
went  to  school,  and  finally  entered  Atlanta  University." 

"I  was  born  in  a  stable;  my  father  died  when  I  was  two 
years  old.  I  blacked  boots  and  sold  sulphur  water  to  educate 
myself  until  I  was  eighteen." 

"My  mother  and  father  took  me  from  Alabama  to  Missis- 
sippi, where  my  father  joined  the  Union  army  at  Corinth, 


IN    HrSTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP  339 

leaving  me  with  my  mother,  brother  and  sister.  We  went 
to  Cairo,  Illinois,  and  then  to  Island  No.  10.  There  mother 
and  brother  died  and  my  sister  sent  me  to  Helena,  Arkansas, 
in  charge  of  an  aunt.  My  father  died  during  the  siege  of 
Vicksburg,  and  I  was  sent  to  the  orphanage  in  Helena,  which 
afterward  became  Southland  College." 

"My  father  died  when  I  was  five,  and  my  mother  when  I 
was  twelve,  leaving  me  an  orphan  in  the  West  Indies.  At 
fourteen  I  left  home  with  a  white  man  from  Massachusetts. 
I  went  to  school  one  year  in  Massachusetts,  then  shipped  as 
a  sailor  and  stayed  on  the  sea  ten  years,  and  finally  return- 
ing started  to  school  again." 


"I  was  one  of  the  two  sons  of  a  Methodist  preacher,  and 
had  to  struggle  pretty  hard  to  get  an  education;  I  left  school 
at  the  age  of  thirteen  and  could  not  return  again  until  I  was 
nineteen." 


"My  father  was  a  lumber  dealer,  and  when  he  died  I  went 
into  partnership  with  my  uncle  in  the  same  business  in  Car- 
roll county,  Maryland.  Later  I  left  home,  worked  five  years 
on  a  farm  in  Michigan,  and  finally  entered  Baldwin  Uni- 
versity." 


"I  was  born  in  Alton,  Illinois,  in  1864o  In  1871  we 
moved  to  Mississippi,  and  happening  to  visit  my  grandfather 
at  Wilberforce,  Ohio,  I  begged  him  to  let  me  stay  there  and 
enter  school.  He  consented;  and  by  housework,  taking  care 
of  horses  and  his  help  I  got  through  school." 

"I  was  born  of  slave  parents  who  could  neither  read  nor 
write.  I  had  but  five  months'  regular  schooling  until  I  was 
seventeen  years  of  age.  Then  I  worked  my  way  through  a 
normal  school  in  South  Carolina,  and  thus  gained  a  certifi- 
cate to  teach  and  helped  myself  on  further  in  school. '  * 


340  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION. 

"I  was  the  son  of  a  slave  mother  and  her  master.  After 
emancipation  a  maternal  uncle  started  me  to  school  in  Salis- 
bury, North  Carolina,  which  an  army  officer  had  organized. 
Afterward  I  entered  Biddle  and  supported  myself  by  teach- 
ing." 


"Father  died  about  my  ninth  birthday,  so  I  attended  the 
public  schools  and  worked  on  the  farm  to  assist  mother  earn 
a  livelihood  for  herself  and  the  four  children.  Late  in  my 
'teens,  after  three  months'  day  labor  upon  the  farm,  railroad, 
wood-chopping,  etc.,  I  entered  Alcorn,  with  the  sum  of 
$20.50.  By  working  there  I  was  enabled  to  remain  in  school 
six  years,  during  the  last  five  of  which  I  secured  work  as  a 
teacher  in  Wilkerson  county.  The  money  I  obtained  was 
used  by  myself,  my  two  brothers  and  a  sister  in  common, 
as  from  time  to  time  each  joined  me  in  college.  Mother 
would  accept  very  little  of  our  earnings  for  herself,  lest  we 
might  be  deprived  of  an  education." 


1  'I  was  born  and  reared  on  my  aged  mother's  farm  near 
Thomastown,  Mississippi.  I  began  going  to  a  country 
school  at  twelve  years  of  age,  having  learned  my  A  B  C's 
under  Uncle  York  Moss,  at  his  Sunday-school,  where  we 
used  Webster's  'Blue-back.'  My  chances  for  attending 
even  a  country  school  were  meager,  for  I  had  to  help  on  the 
farm.  Attending  two  and  four  months  in  the  year,  I  got  far 
enough  advanced  by  the  time  I  was  sixteen  to  teach  a  little 
and  use  my  earnings  in  entering,  first,  Tougaloo,  and  then 
Alcorn." 


"I  was  reared  on  a  farm  and  was  sixteen  before  I  knew  my 
letters,  and  twenty-one  before  I  spent  a  month  in  school." 


1  'In  early  life  I  lived  with  my  parents,  who  were  ex-slaves 
and  took  great  pride  in  working  hard  to  educate  their  chil- 
dren. I  attended  the  first  Yankee  schools  established  in  Sa- 


E.  E.  COOPER. 

Editor  "The  Colored  American."     Founder  of  First  Illustrated  Negro 

Newspaper. 


342  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

vannah.  As  soon  as  I  could  read,  write  and  figure  a  little,  I 
started  a  private  afternoon  school  at  my  home  which  I 
taught." 

1  'I  was  born  a  slave.  Soon  after  the  fall  of  Port  Royal, 
South  Carolina,  in  1861,  three  of  us  escaped  from  Charles- 
ton to  Beaufort,  and  joined  the  Union  forces.  We  were 
taken  on  the  U.  S.  gunboat  Unadilla.  There  I  was  attached 
to  a  lieutenant  in  the  Forty-eighth  New  York  Regiment  of 
Volunteers,  and  remained  with  him  until  he  was  wounded 
before  Fort  Wagner.  I  then  went  north,  attended  night 
school  in  Portland,  Maine,  and  finally  entered  Howard  Uni- 
versity." 

"I  was  the  fifth  child  in  a  family  of  eleven.  My  father 
was  a  poor  farmer  and  did  not  believe  in  education,  so  my 
training  was  neglected  until  I  was  able  to  work  and  help 
myself." 

"I  was  born  a  slave  and  taken  north  to  an  orphanage  by 
Quakers  after  the  war,  both  my  parents  being  dead.  After- 
ward I  was  sent  to  New  Jersey,  and  then  worked  on  a  Penn- 
sylvania farm  until  I  went  to  Lincoln." 


"My  father  was  set  free  prior  to  the  war  and  purchased 
my  mother.  He  died  when  I  was  eight,  leaving  a  little 
home  and  $300  in  gold.  My  mother  was  an  invalid  and  I 
had  to  work  at  whatever  came  to  hand,  going  to  school  from 
three  to  five  months  a  year.  At  the  age  of  fifteen  I  stopped 
school  and  labored  and  taught  a  three  months'  school  at 
$25  a  month.  Finally  I  entered  Roger  Williams  University, 
working  my  way  through  and  helping  mother. ' ' 

*  'Twelve  years  of  my  life  were  spent  as  a  slave.  I  worked 
at  driving  cows,  carrying  dinner  to  the  field-hands  and  run- 
ning rabbits.  My  master  owned  three  hundred  Negroes,  so 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  343 

that  boys  were  not  put  in  the  field  until  they  were  eighteen. 
When  I  was  freed  I  did  not  know  a  letter,  but  I  worked  my 
way  through  Webster's  'Blue-back'  speller." 

"I  was  born  the  slave  of  Jefferson  Davis'  brother  and 
attended  contraband  schools  before  the  close  of  the  war." 

WOMEN. 

"I  was  born  on  a  farm  in  Ohio  and  lived  there  vmtil  I  was 
sixteen.  My  father  died  when  I  was  twelve  and  I  had  to 
provide  for  myself.  At  the  age  of  sixteen  I  taught  a  country 
school  and  saved  one  hundred  dollars.  With  this  I  went  to 
Oberlin  and  went  through  by  teaching  and  working." 

"Was  born  and  schooled  in  Philadelphia  during  the  dark 
days  of  slavery.  Was  intimately  associated  with  the  work 
of  the  Underground  Railroad  and  the  Anti-Slavery  Society. 
I  was  sent  to  Oberlin  in  1864." 


'My  early  life  was  spent  at  my  home  at  Shoreham,  Ver- 
mont, where  I  attended  Newton  Academy.     In  the  fall  of  '91 
I  entered  Mr.  Moody's  school  at  Northfield,  Massachusetts,, 
graduating  as  president  of  my  class.     I  then  entered  Middle- 
bury  College,  Vermont." 

"At  a  very  early  age  I  assumed  the  responsibility  of  house- 
keeper, as  my  mother  died  and  I  was  the  oldest  of  a  family 
of  five;  hence  I  labored  under  many  disadvantages  in  attend- 
ing school,  but  nevertheless  I  performed  my  household  du- 
ties, persevered  with  my  studies,  and  now  I  feel  that  I  have 
been  rewarded." 


"My  mother  and  I  'took  in'  washing  for  our  support  and 
to  enable  me  to  get  an  education.  After  finishing  the  public 
schools  of  Jacksonville,  Illinois,  I  was  supported  four  years 

in  college  by  a  scholarship." 
22 


344  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION. 

"My  early  life  was  spent  in  Darlington,  South  Carolina; 
I  did  not  attend  the  public  school  until  I  was  a  large  girl, 
but  was  taught  at  home,  first  by  my  mother,  then  by  a 
private  teacher.  When  the  public  school  was  graded,  in 
1889,  I  entered  the  high  school  course." 


"  While  a  school-girl  I  taught  persons  living  out  in  service, 
going  into  the  premises  of  some  of  the' most  prominent  white 
people  in  New  Orleans.  I  always  kept  a  large  class  of  night 
pupils  at  the  same  time.  I  paid  my  tuition  out  of  these 
earnings." 

"I  was  born  in  the  State  of  Ohio,  near  the  town  of  Dela- 
ware, on  a  picturesque  farm  purchased  by  my  grandparents 
in  1836.  My  parents  on  both  sides  were  Virginians.  At  this 
quiet  homestead,  sandwiched  between  the  Scioto  river  on  the 
east  and  maple  groves  on  the  west,  I  lived  the  life  of  a 
dreamy,  yet  restless  child — one  of  a  very  large  family  with 
an  angelically-disposed  mother  and  an  extremely  eccentric 
and  well-educated  father.  Our  father  early  told  us  of  Dante, 
Milton  and  similar  literature,  simplifying  to  suit  our  youth- 
fulness.  Mother  repeated  the  story  of  'Pilgrim's  Progress,' 
and  she  also  delighted  in  the  book  of  Job,  which  her  life  so 
beautifully  represented — patience  personified.  Our  home 
being  so  near  the  Ohio  White  Sulphur  Springs,  where  the 
wealthy  leisure  class  spent  much  time,  I  saw  much  of  cul- 
tured people,  old  and  young,  especially  the  latter.  Indeed, 
when  quite  young  I  saw  little  else,  for  during  the  remainder 
of  the  year  my  brothers,  sisters,  birds,  trees  and  nature  in 
general  were  my  only  companions." 


From  the  first  the  institutions  of  higher  training  founded 
in  the  South  were,  with  few  exceptions,  open  to  girls  as  well 
as  boys.  Naturally  fewer  girls  entered,  but  nevertheless  a 
considerable  number — over  250 — throughout  the  country 
have  finished  a  college  course.  Of  the  larger  Negro  colleges 


JUDSON  W.  LYONS. 
Register  United  States  Treasury,  Washington,  D,  C. 


34G  THE    NEC  KG    IN    REVELATION, 

only  Lincoln  and  Biddle  do  not  admit  girls.  The  women 
graduates  are  as  follows: 

Women  Graduates  from  Colleges. — Oberlin,  55;  Shaw,  21; 
PaulQuinn,  13;  Atlanta,  8;  Southland,  8;  Rust,  7;  Claflin, 
6;  Philander  Smith,  5;  Iowa  Wesleyan,  4;  University  of 
Kansas,  3;  Cornell,  3;  Geneva,  2;  Leland,  1;  University  of 
Iowa,  1;  Idaho,  1;  Bates,  1;  Clarke,  1;  Straight,!;  Branch, 
Arkansas,  1;  Mt.  Holyoke,  1;  Fisk,  31;  Wilberforce,  19; 
Knoxville,  10;  Howard,  8;  Central  Tennessee,  7;  Living- 
stone, 6;  New  Orleans,  5;  Roger  Williams,  5;  Berea,  4; 
University  of  Michigan.,  3;  Wittenberg,  2;  Wellesley,  2; 
Butler  1;  Adrian,  1;  McKendree,  1;  Virginia  Normal  and 
Collegiate,  1;  Allen,  1;  Paine  Institute,  1;  Vassar,  1. 
Total  women,  252.  Total  men,  2,272. 

If  we  arrange  them  according  to  years  of  graduation,  we 
have  from  1861  to  1869,  36;  from  1880  to  1889,  76;  1890  to 
1898,  119. 

The  rapid  increase  of  college-bred  women  in  later  years  is 
noticeable,  and  the  present  tendency  is  toward  a  still  larger 
proportion  of  women.  Twenty-three  per  cent,  of  the  college 
students  of  Howard,  Atlanta,  Fisk  and  Shaw  Universities 
were  women  in  the  school  year  of  1898-' 99.  The  economic 
stress  will  probably  force  more  of  the  young  men  into  work 
before  they  get  through  college  and  leave  a  larger  chance  for 
the  training  of  daughters.  A  tendency  in  this  direction  is 
noticeable  in  all  the  colleges,  and  if  it  results  in  more  highly 
trained  mothers  it  will  result  in  great  good.  Of  one  hundred 
college-bred  women  reporting  their  conjugal  condition,  one- 
half  had  been  married,  against  nearly  seventy  per  cent,  of 
the  men. 

The  family  is  the  latest  of  the  social  institutions  developed 
by  the  Negro  on  American  soil  and  as  yet  the  weakest.  He 
learned  to  labor,  he  organized  for  religious  purposes,  he 
started  germs  of  other  social  organizations  before  the  system 
of  slavery  allowed  the  independent  monogamic  Negro  home. 
Consequently  we  look  most  anxiously  to  the  establishment 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  347 

and  strengthening  of  the  home  among  members  of  the  race, 
because  it  is  the  surest  indication  of  real  progress. 

The  Negro  was  brought  originally  from  a  polygamic  home- 
life  in  Africa  where  women  and  children  were  strongly 
guarded,  although  subject  to  the  practically  unrestrained 
tyranny  of  the  husband.  On  the  West  Indian  plantations 
all  the  law  and  custom  of  marriage  was  rudely  broken  up  and 
polygamy,  polyandry  and  promiscuity  were  practiced.  On 
the  plantations  of  the  United  States  some  regularity  was  es- 
tablished, which,  on  the  Virginia  plantations,  approached  as 
near  the  monogamic  ideal  as  the  slave  trade  and  concubin- 
age would  allow.  With  emancipation  came  the  independent 
Negro  home.  Naturally  the  poor  training  of  Negro  women, 
the  lack  of  respect  or  chivalry  toward  them,  and  the  fact 
that  the  field-hand  never  had  the  responsibility  of  family  life, 
all  tended  to  make  pure  homes  difficult  to  establish  and  main- 
tain. Without  doubt  the  greatest  social  problem  of  the 
American  Negro  at  present  is  sexual  purity,  and  the  solving 
of  this  problem  lies  peculiarly  upon  the  homes  established 
among  them.  Great  and  marked  progress  has  been  made  in 
thirty  years,  but  there  is  still  great  work  ahead. 

Among  a  picked  class  of  leaders  like  these  we  are  study- 
ing, statistics  of  marriage  and  family  life  are  consequently  of 
peculiar  interest.  First,  then,  let  us  consider  the  age  at 
which  college-bred  persons  marry,  compared  with  the  age  of 
graduation: 

Of  College-bred  Men  there  Marry:  Under  20  years  of 
age,  1.4  per  cent.;  20  to  24  years  of  age,  15.1  per  cent.; 
25  to  29  years  of  age,  39.3  per  cent.;  30  to  34  years  of  age, 
30.2  per  cent.;  35  to  39  years  of  age,  8.6  per  cent.;  40 
years  of  age  or  over,  5.4  per  cent. 

The  bulk  of  college  men,  it  would  seem,  marry  between 
the  ages  of  twenty-five  and  thirty-five,  a  period  nearly  ten 
years  later  than  was  the  case  with  their  fathers  and  mothers. 
This  indicates  a  great  social  revolution.  The  average  age  of 
marriage,  compared  with  age  of  graduation  is  as  follows: 


348  THE  NEGRO  IN  REVELATION. 

MEN: 

Graduating    Average  age  Graduating   Average  age  Graduating    Average  age 

at  age  of       of  marriage  at  age  of       of  marriage  at  age  of       of  marriage 

16 25  23 28  30 32 

17 29  24 29  31 32 

18 24  25 27  32 33 

19 : 26  26 29  33 33 

20 28  27 30  34.:. 31 

21 26  28 30  35 30 

22 29  29 32  36  and  over....35 

The  meager  returns  received  made  it  very  difficult  to  de- 
termine the  truth  as  to  the  marriages  of  women  graduates; 
the  average  age  of  marriage  of  those  women  reported  was 
62.8  years;  compared  with  age  of  graduates  it  was: 

WOMEN: 

Graduating     Married  at  Graduating     Married  at  Graduating    Married  at 

at  age  of            age  of  at  age  of            age  of  at  age  of           age  of 

18 20  21 27  25 28 

19 22  22 24  27 28 

29 22  23 25  31 43 

Out  of  665  male  graduates,  68  per  cent,  have  married,  and 
out  of  99  female  graduates,  51  per  cent,  have  married.  Of 
19  graduates  previous  to  1870,  18  have  married;  of  97  from 
1870  to  1879,  85  have  married;  of  251  from  1880  to  1889, 
219  have  married;  of  393  from  1890  to  1899,  180  have  mar- 
ried. Out  of  this  total  there  has  been  but  one  divorce. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 
THE  COLLEGE-BRED  NEGRO. 

(CONTINUED.) 
III.    OCCUPATIONS,    OWNERSHIP   OF   PROPERTY,    ETC. 

PHK  most  interesting  question,  and  in  many  respects  the 
*•  crucial  question,  to  be  asked  concerning  college-bred  Ne- 
groes is:  Do  they  earn  a  living?  It  has  been  intimated  more 
than  once  that  the  higher  training  of  Negroes  has  resulted 
in  sending  into  the  world  of  work  men  who  can  find  nothing 
to  do  suitable  to  their  talents.  Now  and  then  there  comes 
a  rumor  of  a  colored  college  man  working  at  menial  service, 
etc.  Fortunately  the  returns  as  to  occupations  of  college- 
bred  Negroes  are  quite  full — nearly  60  per  cent,  of  the  total 
number  of  graduates. 

This  enables  us  to  reach  fairly  probable  conclusions  as  to 
the  occupations  of  college-bred  Negroes.  Of  1,312  persons 
reporting  there  were:  Teachers,  53.4  per  cent.;  clergymen, 
16.8  per  cent.;  physicians,  etc.,  6.3  per  cent.;  students,  5.6 
per  cent.;  lawyers,  4.7  per  cent.;  in  government  service,  4 
percent.;  in  business,  3.6  per  cent.;  farmers  and  artisans, 
2.7  per  cent.;  editors,  secretaries  and  clerks,  2.4  per  cent.; 
miscellaneous,  5  per  cent. 

Over  half  are  teachers,  a  sixth  are  preachers,  another  sixth 
are  students  and  professional  men;  over  6  percent,  are  farm- 
ers, artisans  and  merchants,  and  4  per  cent,  are  in  govern- 
ment service.  In  detail,  the  occupations  are  as  follows: 

Occupations  of  College-Bred  Men. — Presidents  and  deans, 
19;  teachers  of  music,  7;  professors,  principals  and  teachers, 
675.  Total,  701.  Bishop,  1;  chaplains  United  States  army, 
2;  missionaries,  9;  presiding  elders,  12;  preachers,  197.  To- 
tal, 221.  Doctors  of  medicine,  76;  druggists,  4;  dentists, 

349 


350  THE     NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

3.  Total,  83.  Students,  74;  lawyers,  62.  United  States 
minister  plenipotentiary,  1;  United  States  consul,  1;  United 
States  deputy  collector,  1;  United  States  gauger,  1;  United 
States  postmasters,  2;  United  States  clerks,  44;  State  civil 
service,  2;  city  civil  service,  1.  Total,  53.  Merchants,  etc., 
30;  managers,  13;  real  estate  dealers,  4.  Total,  47.  Farm- 
ers, 26.  Secretaries  of  national  societies,  7;  clerks,  etc.,  15. 
Total,  22.  Artisans,  9;  editors,  9;  miscellaneous,  5. 

These  figures  illustrate  vividly  the  function  of  the  college- 
bred  Negro.  He  is,  as  he  ought  to  be,  the  group  leader,  the 
man  who  sets  the  ideals  of  the  community  where  he  lives, 
directs  its  thought  and  heads  its  social  movements.  It  need 
hardly  be  argued  that  the  Negro  people  need  social  leadership 
more  than  most  groups;  they  have  no  traditions  to  fall  back 
npon,  no  long-established  customs,  no  strong  family  ties,  no 
well-defined  social  classes.  All  these  things  must  be  slowly 
and  painfully  evolved.  The  preacher  was  even  before  the  war 
the  group  leader  of  the  Negroes,  and  the  church  their  great- 
est social  institution.  Naturally,  this  preacher  was  ignorant 
and  often  immoral,  and  the  problem  of  replacing  the  older 
type  by  better  educated  men  has  been  a  difficult  one.  Both 
by  direct  work  and  by  indirect  influence  on  other  preachers 
and  on  congregations,  the  college-bred  preacher  has  an  op- 
portunity for  reformatory  work  and  moral  inspiration,  the 
value  of  which  cannot  be  overestimated. 

It  has,  however,  been  in  the  furnishing  of  teachers  that 
the  Negro  college  has  found  its  peculiar  function.  Few  per- 
sons realize  how  vast  a  work,  how  mighty  a  revolution  has 
thus  been  accomplished.  To  furnish  five  millions  and  more 
of  ignorant  people  with  teachers  of  their  own  race  and  blood, 
in  one  generation,  was  not  only  a  very  difficult  undertaking, 
but  a  very  important  one,  in  that  it  placed  before  the  eyes  of 
almost  every  Negro  child  an  attainable  ideal.  It  brought  the 
masses  of  the  blacks  in  contact  with  modern  civilization, 
made  black  men  the  leaders  of  their  communities  and  train- 
ers of  the  new  generation.  In  this  work  college-bred  Negroes 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  351 

were  first  teachers  and  then  teachers  of  teachers.  And  here 
it  is  that  the  broad  culture  of  college  work  has  been  of  pe- 
culiar value.  Knowledge  of  life  and  its  wider  meaning  has 
been  the  point  of  the  Negro's  deepest  ignorance,  and  the 
sending  out  of  teachers  whose  training  has  not  been  merely 
for  bread-winning,  but  also  for  human  culture,  has  been  of 
inestimable  value  in  the  training  of  these  men. 

In  earlier  years  the  two  occupations  of  preacher  and  teacher 
were  practically  the  only  ones  open  to  the  black  college 
graduate.  Of  later  years  a  larger  diversity  of  life  among 
his  people  has  opened  new  avenues  of  employment. 

We  find  that  the  profession  of  teaching  is  a  stepping-stone 
to  other  work.  Eighty-seven  persons  were  at  first  teachers, 
and  then  changed,  eleven  becoming  lawyers,  seven  going 
into  business,  twenty-six  entering  the  ministry,  twelve  en- 
tering the  United  States  civil  service,  etc.  Seven  have  at 
various  times  engaged  in  menial  work,  usually  as  porters, 
waiters  and  the  like,  but  all  but  one  man  working  in  a  hotel 
have  done  this  only  temporarily.  It  is  quite  possible  that 
others  who  are  engaged  in  such  work  have  on  this  account 
sent  in  no  reports.  We  see  in  this  way  that  of  seven  hun- 
dred college-bred  men  over  five  hundred  have  immediately 
on  graduation  found  work  at  which  they  are  still  employed. 
Less  than  two  hundred  have  turned  from  a  first  occupation 
to  a  second  before  finding  apparently  permanent  employment. 

There  are  still  others  who  have  tried  two  and  three  em- 
ployments. The  reports  of  these  are  naturally  not  as  full 
as  the  others,  through  forgetfulness  and  the  natural  desire 
not  to  advertise  past  failures.  One  college  man  is  known  to 
have  tried  nine  different  occupations  in  ten  years — but  this 
is  very  exceptional. 

It  seems  fair  to  conclude  that  the  majority  of  college-bred 
men  find  work  quickly,  make  few  changes,  and  stick  to  their 
undertakings.  That  there  are  many  exceptions  to  this  rule 
is  probable,  but  the  testimony  of  observers  together  with 
these  figures  makes  the  above  statement  approximately  true. 


352  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

It  might  be  well  here  to  turn  from  the  more  general  figures 
to  the  graduates  of-  a  single  representative  institution.  A 
graduate  of  Dartmouth  College  who  has  been  in  the  work  of 
educating  Negro  youth  for  over  thirty  years  writes  as  follows 
in  a  small  publication  which  gives  the  record  of  Atlanta 
University  graduates,  including  the  class  of  1899: 

"This  leaflet  covers  an  experience  of  about  a  quarter  of  a 
century  of  graduating  classes.  It  will  tell  of  the  work  of 
only  the  graduates  of  Atlanta  University,  all  of  whom  have 
been  kept  under  the  watchful  eye  of  their  alma  mater.  It 
would  be  difficult  to  trace  the  careers  of  the  thousands  of 
others  who  did  not  graduate  but  who  have  attended  the  in- 
stitution for  a  longer  or  shorter  period,  although  many  of 
them  are  known  to  have  made  good  use  of  their  meager 
attainments  and  some  are  occupying  prominent  positions. 
If  it  were  asked  why  no  larger  percentage  of  the  students 
have  obtained  diplomas  or  certificates  of  graduation,  a  suffi- 
cient answer  would  be  found  in  the  one  word,  poverty. 
Their  parents  have  been  too  poor  to  spare  them  from  home 
or  to  pay  their  expenses  at  school,  and  they  themselves  have 
been  utterly  unable  to  find  any  employment  sufficiently 
remunerative  to  permit  them  to  keep  on  and  graduate  within 
a  reasonable  limit  in  time.  Probably  the  world  cannot  show 
instances  of  greater  sacrifices  by  parents  or  greater  pluck, 
persistency  and  self-denial  of  students  than  are  to  be  found 
among  the  patrons  and  pupils  of  Atlanta  University. 

"While  the  ninety-four  graduates  from  the  college  depart- 
ment represent  only  a  small  portion  of  the  work  done  by  the 
university,  they  represent  a  very  important  part  of  that 
work,  as  will  be  evident  from  a  statement  of  the  positions 
they  occupy  and  the  work  they  are  doing. 

"Of  these  ninety -four  graduates,  twelve  have  died.  .  .  . 
Of  the  eighty-two  now  living,  eleven  are  ministers,  four  are 
physicians,  two  are  lawyers,  one  is  a  dentist,  forty-three  are 
teachers,  one  is  a  theological  student,  one  is  studying  at 
Harvard  University  and  another  at  the  University  of  Penn- 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  353 

sylvania,  ten  are  in  the  service  of  the  United  States,  six  in 
other  kinds  of  business,  and  two  are  unemployed. 

"One  of  these  graduates  has  rendered  a  most  conspicuous 
service  to  the  Negro  farmers  of  his  State  through  the  organi- 
zation of  a  farmers'  improvement  society,  with  many 
branches,  whose  members  are  pledged  to  become  land  own- 
ers, to  diversify  their  crops,  to  improve  and  beautify  their 
homes,  to  fight  the  credit  system  by  buying  only  for  cash 
on  a  co-operative  plan,  and  to  raise  their  own  supplies  so  far 
as  possible.  The  fact  that  he  can  report  today  eighty-six 
branches  of  his  society  scattered  over  the  State  of  Texas 
with  2,340  members  who  have  bought  and  largely  paid  for 
46,000  acres  of  land,  worth  nearly  half  a  million  dollars,  is  a 
valuable  illustration  of  what  one  Negro  with  high  ideals  and 
an  earnest  purpose  can  accomplish  for  the  economic  and 
material  advancement  of  his  race. 

"Several  graduates  have  done  considerable  newspaper  work 
and  many  sermons  and  addresses  delivered  by  them  have 
been  published.  At  least  two  publications  have  been  highly 
commended  by  the  press.  Of  President  Richard  R.  Wright's 
'Historical  Sketch  of  Negro  Education  in  Georgia,'  the 
Journal  of  Education  says:  'And  it  is  just  this  that  makes 
his  story  so  valuable  and  forces  one  to  read  it  straight  through 
from  beginning  to  end,  which  is  not  the  way  books  and 
pamphlets  are  usually  read  in  newspaper  offices.'  And  of 
Professor  William  H.  Crogman's  'Talks  for  the  Times,'  the 
New  York  Independent  says:  'The  author  speaks  for  his 
race  and  speaks  in  strong,  polished  English,  full  of  nerve  and 
rich  in  the  music  of  good  English  prose.' 

"And  these  graduates  are  not  fickle  and  unstable,  but  re- 
tain their  positions  year  after  year,  doing  faithful,  earnest 
and  patient  service.  The  length  of  the  pastorates  of  the 
ministers  has  been  far  above  the  average,  and  one  of  the 
teachers  is  completing  his  twenty-fourth  year  in  the  same 
institution. 

"Do  not  these  simple  statements  impress  their  own  les- 

223 


354 


THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 


sons?  Could  less  than  a  college  course  have  fitted  most  of 
these  men  and  women  so  well  for  the  responsible  positions 
they  are  occupying,  and  the  work  they  are  doing  as  pastors, 
professors,  principals,  physicians,  editors,  teachers,  Sunday- 
school  superintendents,  home-builders  and  leaders  of  their 
people?  If  half  of  them  had  failed  to  fill  the  place  for  which 
their  education  ought  to  have  prepared  them,  even  then  their 
teachers  and  friends  would  not  have  been  disheartened.  But 


DINING  HM,I,,  ROOKR  WII.IJ 


IVKRSITY,  NASHVIIJ,*?, 


almost  none  have  failed  to  meet  reasonable  expectations. 
This  record  of  the  college  graduates  is  full  of  encouragement 
and  inspiration." 

A  glance  at  the  work  done  by  Negro  college  graduates  in 
different  fields  can  be  but  casual  and  yet  of  some  value.  The 
teachers  we  asked  to  estimate  roughly  the  pupils  they  had 
taught.  Some  answered  frankly  that  they  could  not,  while 
others  made  a  statement  which  they  said  was  simply  a  careful 
guess.  From  these  estimates  we  find  that  550  teachers 


JN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  355 

reporting  think  they  have  taught  about  300,000  children  in 
primary  grades  and  200,000  in  secondary  grades.  From 
this  we  get  some  faint  idea  of  the  enormous  influence  of  these 
700  teachers  and  the  many  other  college  men  who  have 
taught  for  longer  or  shorter  periods.  Some  of  the  teachers 
reported  briefly  the  success  in  after  life  of  some  of  the  pupils 
they  had  taught: 

"They  farm  mostly — a  multitude  preach,  some  act  as  men 
of  commerce,  and  they  are  engaged  in  every  pursuit.  One 
is  a  successful  practitioner  of  medicine." 


"Several  are  successful  as  mail  clerks,  several  are  doctors, 
some  are  successful  farmers." 


"Eleven  became  doctors.  The  most  of  these  are  living 
and  they  are  succeeding  finely.  Four  are  practicing  law, 
and  they  are  making  passably  good  headway.  Two  are  col- 
lege presidents,  four  professors,  one  cashier  of  a  bank." 


"One  taught  successfully  in  the  Louisville  High  School, 
one  in  an  Alabama  high  school,  one  is  a  minister  and  one  a 
grocer." 

"Three  are  principals  of  large  schools,  five  are  clerks  in 
United  States  service,  several  are  lawyers,  three  are  doctors." 

"Several  are  successful  physicians,  lawyers,  teachers  and 
preachers,  and  one  a  bishop  in  the  A.  M.  B.  Z.  church. 
Three  are  presidents  of  institutions  of  learning  and  two  are 
successful  pharmacists." 

"Several  of  my  pupils  have  been  and  are  now  successful 
ministers.  One  is  quite  an  eminent  physician,  and  one  a 
lawyer,  now  an  assistant  in  the  district  attorney's  office  of 
New  York  City." 


356  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

"Several  have  secured  first-grade  licenses  and  are  making 
successful  teachers.  Some  are  buying  their  own  farms  and 
not  a  few  are  owning  their  own  lots." 


"One  is  now  professor  of  agriculture  at  the  A.  &  M.  Col- 
lege, West  Virginia.  Another  has  charge  of  the  machine 
shops  at  High  Point  Normal  and  Industrial  School,  High 
Point,  North  Carolina;  another  is  practicing  law  at  some 
point  in  Florida.  Quite  a  number  are  doing  well." 


"One  is  a  first-class  sign  painter  at  Wilmington,  North 
Carolina,  another  is  one  of  the  leading  colored  physicians  of 
Atlanta." 


"Two  are  successful  teachers  and  one  is  principal  of  the 
largest  public  school  in  Birmingham,  Alabama." 


"One  of  the  most  notable  and  one  over  whom  I  may  have 
exercised  considerable  influence,  before  and  since  his  gradua- 
tion, is  the  principal  of  Snow  Hill  Industrial  School,  at  Snow 
Hill,  Alabama." 


"There  were  no  individual  instances  of  success  among 
them  so  far  as  I  know.  Several  of  the  young  men  went  to 
farming,  some  of  the  young  ladies  married  farmers.  One 
young  man  became  a  miner  for  a  while." 


"I  mention  the  following  instances  of  success  with  which  I 
am  best  acquainted  at  present  in  this  State:  A  dentist  at 
Houston,  Texas;  a  practicing  physician  and  surgeon  at 
Washington,  Texas;  the  deputy  United  States  Revenue  Col- 
lector at  the  port  of  Galveston;  and  the  superintendent  of  the 
Deaf  and  Dumb  Asylum,  Austin,  Texas." 


"Several   students   of   my   tuition  have   made   excellent 
teachers;  all,  with  few  exceptions,  have  made  good  citizens 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  357 

and  proved  worthy  examples   of   honesty,    trustworthiness 
and  Christianity." 

"  Among  those  graduated  under  me  are  four  clerks  in  the 
civil  service,  three  principals  of  schools,  two  chaplains  in  the 
United  States  army,  one  captain  and  two  lieutenants  in  the 
United  States  volunteer  service,  eleven  teachers  in  high 
schools  and  one  postmaster. ' ' 


"  Among  my  graduates  are  two  high  school  teachers,  one 
professor  of  agriculture,  one  principal  of  city  schools,  one 
founder  of  an  industrial  school  and  village." 


"Some  have  purchased  farms,  others  are  teaching,  while 
i  goodly  number,  young  women  and  young  men,  are  pur- 
suing college  education." 


"One  is  a  graduate  from  medicine  and  one  from  law,  and 
a  large  number  have  taken  higher  courses  in  other  schools 
and  are  holding  important  positions  as  principals  of  schools." 

"There  are  many  bright  and  promising  ones  among  them, 
but  as  yet  they  have  not  fully  shouldered  the  responsibilities 
of  life,  and  therefore  cannot  be  termed  successful  individuals, 
but  rather  promising." 

"Two  of  our  last  year  graduates  (a  class  of  seven)  are 
teaching  music;  one  teaches  in  the  schools  of  Crawford 
county,  Arkansas;  one  is  clerk  and  book-keeper  in  a  store; 
the  others  are  farming  and  housekeeping  in  their  homes. 
Several  of  the  undergraduates  are  or  have  been  teaching. 
General  satisfaction  with  their  work  is  reported." 

"One  young  man  won  a  prize  at  the  University  of  Chicago; 
several  have  won  prizes  in  other  schools  of  the  North.  Two 
or  three  are  now  physicians;  several  are  successful  business 
men  and  farmers." 


i-i-IS  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

"One  of  my  pupils  in  the  year  1867  is  today  the  head  of 
one  of  the  leading  Negro  colleges  in  the  Southwest.  One 
of  my  pupils  from  this  institution,  a  person  of  physical  de- 
formity, who  worked  his  way  through  by  means  derived  from 
labor,  is  vice-president  of  the  largest  colored  public  school 
in  this  State.  In  about  eighteen  months  after  leaving  school 
he  saved  sufficient  means  from  his  limited  salary  as  a  teacher 
to  purchase  a  lot,  plan  a  house  and  help  to  construct  it;  the 
property  is  worth  about  one  thousand  dollars.  The  majority 
of  graduates  of  the  institution  have  either  their  own  homes 
or  improved  property." 

Some  of  the  pupils  referred  to  have  afterward  graduated 
from  college  and  are  included  elsewhere  in  this  study.  Most 
teachers  have  picked  out  the  cases  of  success  and  said  noth- 
ing of  the  failures,  of  which  there  must  have  been  many. 
Still,  the  record  is  interesting  and  shows  something  of  the 
work  of  the  college-bred  teacher. 

Outside  the  work  of  teachers,  the  chief  professions  followed 
are  the  ministry,  law  and  medicine.  In  most  cases  a  regular 
professional  course  is  pursued  after  the  college  course  is 
finished,  in  order  to  prepare  for  the  profession.  The  chief 
theological  schools  are  Biddle,  at  Charlotte,  North  Carolina; 
Howard,  at  Washington,  District  of  Columbia;  Gammon,  at 
Atlanta,  Georgia;  Straight,  at  New  Orleans,  Louisiana; 
Payne,  at  Wilberforce,  Ohio;  Lincoln,  in  Pennsylvania,  and 
Union,  at  Richmond,  Virginia.  These  institutions,  and 
others,  have  turned  out  large  numbers  of  ministers,  until  the 
supply  today  is  rather  more  than  the  demand,  and  the  num- 
ber of  students  is  falling  off.  The  work  of  replacing  the 
ordinary  Negro  preachers  by  college-bred  men  will  go  on 
slowly,  but  it  will  require  many  years  and  much  advance  in 
other  lines  before  this  work  is  finished.  Some  colored  men 
have  gone  to  Northern  theological  schools,  usually  to  the 
Hartford  Theological  School,  Newton  Seminary  and  Yale 
University.  The  leading  Negro  ministers  today  are  not 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP*.  359 

usually  college-bred  men;  still  a  large  number  of  the  rising 
ministers  are  such,  and  the  influence  of  the  younger  set  is 
wide-spread. 

There  are  comparatively  few  Negro  law  schools,  those  at 
Shaw  University  and  Howard  being  practically  the  only  ones. 
There  has  been  a  good  deal  of  contempt  thrown  on  the  Ne- 
gro lawyer,  and  he  has  been  regarded  as  superfluous.  With- 
out doubt,  today  lawyers  are  not  demanded  as  much  as 
merchants  and  artisans,  and  they  have  often  degenerated 
into  ward  politicians  of  the  most  annoying  type.  At  the 
same  time  there  has  been  a  demand  for  Negro  lawyers  of  the 
better  type.  The  Negroes  are  ignorant  of  the  forms  of  law, 
careless  of  little  matters  of  procedure,  and  have  lost  thou- 
sands of  dollars  of  hard-earned  property  by  not  consulting 
lawyers.  There  is,  therefore,  a  distinct  place  for  the  black 
lawyer,  but  one  hard  to  fill,  with  small  and  uncertain  income 
in  most  cases.  Here  and  there  are  exceptions,  especially  in 
the  North.  In  Boston,  for  instance,  there  are  four  or  five 
colored  lawyers  who  make  fair  incomes,  largely  from  white 
practice — foreigners,  Jews,  Italians  and  some  few  Americans. 
In  Chicago  there  are  two  or  three  colored  lawyers  with  large 
incomes  and  a  host  who  make  a  living.  Even  in  a  city  like 
Minneapolis,  with  only  a  handful  of  black  folks,  t\ie  Journal, 
in  a  review  of  the  more  prominent  members  of  the  bench 
and  bar,  February  10,  1898,  speaks  of  a  black  man  as: 

"One  of  the  few  members  of  the  Negro  race  who  have  suc- 
ceeded in  the  practice  of  law.  He  was  born  near  Flemings- 
burg,  Kentucky,  on  February  22,  1859.  His  father  died 
when  he  was  two  years  old,  and  after  the  war  his  mother 
moved  to  Ohio,  where  he  attended  the  public  schools  of  New 
Richmond  and  Cincinnati.  Later  he  went  to  school  in  Chi- 
cago, and  afterwards  entered  the  Fisk  University  at  Nash- 
ville, Tennessee.  In  1887  he  received  the  degree  of  M.  A. 
from  Fisk  University,  and  in  the  same  year  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  in  Illinois,  being  one  of  a  class  of  twenty-seven  and 
one  out  of  three  who  received  the  highest  markings.  He 


THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATON. 

was  admitted  to  practice  in  Tennessee,  and  practiced  to  some 
extent  at  Nashville  and  Chicago.  In  1889  he  resigned  his 
position  at  Fisk  University  and  came  to  Minneapolis,  where 
he  was  the  first  Afro- American  lawyer  to  appear  before  the 
courts  of  Hennepin  county.  In  the  course  of  his  practice 
here  he  has  handled  a  number  of  important  cases.  One  of 
his  notable  cases  was  that  of  the  defense  of  Thomas  Lyons 
in  the  famous  Harris  murder  trial.  Lyons  was  discharged. 
In  addition  to  his  activity  in  his  profession,  Mr.  Morris  has 
been  identified  prominently  with  all  the  affairs  of  his  race  in 
the  city  and  State.  He  has  also  been  prominent  in  politics. ' ' 

Some  of  the  reports  from  other  lawyers  are  of  interest.  A 
Memphis  lawyer  who  has  practiced  for  twenty-five  years  says: 
"I  cannot  complain  of  the  treatment  I  have  received  at  the 
hands  of  both  bench  and  bar."  A  lawyer  of  Vicksburg, 
Mississippi,  says:  "There  are  two  colored  lawyers  here  in  bar 
of  about  fifty.  I  do  not  enjoy  any  considerable  white  prac- 
tice, but  get  my  share  from  my  race."  A  Kentucky  lawyer 
writes:  "In  my  profession  I  am  succeeding  fairly  well." 

A  Nashville  lawyer  writes:  "I  know  of  no  special  success 
attending  my  practice.  I  am  making  a  living  out  of  it." 
A  North  Carolina  practitioner  says:  "I  handle  real  estate 
for  both  white  and  colored.  I  have  a  paying  practice  in  all 
State  courts.  My  clients  are  all  colored. " 

From  the  North  the  character  of  the  replies  differs  some- 
what: "My  practice  is  largely  amongst  the  whites,"  says  a 
Minnesota  lawyer.  From  Chicago  come  several  reports: 
"As  a  lawyer  of  six  years'  practice  here  I  have  no  reason  to 
complain.  .  My  clients  are  about  evenly  divided  between  the 
two  races."  "In  my  practice  as  a  lawyer  for  the  past  seven 
years,  I  have  done  general  law  practice;  nine- tenths  of  my 
patronage,  from  point  of  emolument,  has  been  and  is  from 
white  clientage.  I  do  considerable  business  for  Irish  people, 
a  few  Germans,  many  Poles  and  Bohemians,  and  many  of 
English  descent. ' '  From  Buffalo,  New  York,  a  lawyer  writes: 
"My  practice  has  not  yet  assumed  proportions  sufficiently  ex- 


RT.  REV.  GEO.  W.   CLINTON. 
Bishop  A.   M.   E.  Zion  Church, 


362  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

tensive  or  varied  to  warrant  me  in  making  deductions  upon 
present  success.  I  can  see  110  reason,  however,  why  a  col- 
ored man  of  high  character  and  the  requisite  qualifications, 
should  not  succeed  in  the  practice  of  law."  Another  writes: 
"My  experience  as  a  lawyer  in  Buffalo  has  been  pleasant, 
and  in  my  intercourse  with  the  lawyers,  almost  exclusively 
white,  I  have  had  no  cause  for  complaint,  being  apparently 
respected  by  bench  and  bar."  A  Minnesota  lawyer  gradu- 
ated in  law  in  1894,  "was  appointed  clerk  of  criminal  court, 
and  resigned  December  21,  1898,  to  serve  as  a  member  of 
the  Minnesota  House  of  Representatives;  am  still  a  member 
and  have  been  practicing  law.  The  district  I  represent,  the 
forty-second,  is  an  entirely  white  district.  I  led  the  Repub- 
lican ticket  by  six  hundred  and  ninety  votes."  A  Cleve- 
land, Ohio,  lawyer  says:  u My  practice  is  increasing."  An 
Omaha,  Nebraska,  lawyer  says:  ' '  My  practice  has  been  mixed 
both  as  to  kind  of  cases  and  classes  of  people. ' '  A  Boston  law- 
yer who  is  common  councilman  of  Cambridge,  from  a  white 
ward,  reports  "fair  success."  Another  Boston  lawyer  has 
been  alderman  of  Cambridge  for  several  years.  A  Philadel- 
phia lawyer  says:  "My  practice  is  largely  confined  to  Jews. 
The  better  class  of  Negroes  is  not  so  likely  to  patronize  me 
as  the  whites  are." 

The  chief  Negro  medical  schools  are  Meharry,  at  Nash- 
ville, Tennessee;  Leonard,  at  Raleigh,  North  Carolina; 
Howard,  at  Washington,  District  of  Columbia;  Knoxville, 
at  Knoxville,  Tennessee,  and  New  Orleans,  at  New  Orleans, 
Louisiana.  These  institutions  have  done  remarkable  work 
in.  sending  out  colored  physicians.  Their  standard  is  lower 
than  the  great  Northern  schools,  but  in  most  cases  the  work 
seems  honestly  done  and  the  graduates  successful.  Negroes 
have  also  graduated  at  the  Harvard  Medical  School,  the 
Medical  School  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  and  other 
Northern  institutions.  The  rise  of  the  Negro  physician  has 
been  sudden  and  significant.  Ten  years  ago  few  Negro 
families  thought  of  employing  a  Negro  as  a  physician. 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  363 

Today  few  employ  any  other  kind.  By  pluck  and  desert 
black  men  have  cleared  here  a  large  field  of  usefulness. 
^Moreover,  in  this  profession  far  more  than  in  the  ministry 
and  the  law,  the  professional  standard  has  been  kept  high. 
The  college-bred  physician  has  had  quacks  and  root  doctors 
to  contend  with,  but  to  no  such  extent  did  they  hold  and 
dominate  the  field  as  was  the  case  in  the  churches  and 
criminal  courts.  The  result  is  today  that  there  is  scarcely  a 
city  of  any  size  in  the  United  States  where  it  is  not  possible  to 
secure  the  services  of  a  well-trained  Negro  physician  of  skill 
and  experience.  TheFreedmen's  Hospital,  of  Washington, 
has  made  an  extremely  good  record  in  the  difficult  opera- 
tions performed,  general  efficiency  and  training  of  nurses. 
Hospitals  have  grown  up  in  various  cities  under  colored 
medical  men,  notably  in  Chicago,  Charleston  and  Phila- 
delphia. There  are  State  medical  associations  in  Georgia, 
South  Carolina,  Tennessee  and  several  other  States. 

The  testimony  of  physicians  themselves  is  usually  hope- 
ful. From  the  North,  a  report  from  Newark,  New  Jersey, 
says:  "I  am  and  have  been  medical  representative  on  our 
grand  jury.  Two-thirds  of  my  practice  is  among  whites. 
I  run  a  drug  store  in  connection  with  my  practice."  From 
New  York  City:  "At  first  I  found  the  whites  very  backward 
in  dealing  with  me,  but  success  in  several  emergency  cases 
gave  me  some  reputation.  Now  my  practice  is  about  equally 
divided  among  black  and  white."  Another  from  New  York 
City  says  his  practice  amounts  to  about  $10,000  a  year,  and 
he  actually  collects  about  half  of  that.  About  a  third  of  his 
patients  are  white.  From  Philadelphia  one  reports  a  large 
practice,  chiefly  among  blacks  and  the  colored  hospital. 
One  colored  physician  is  connected  with  a  large  white  hos- 
pital. A  lady  physician  from  the  same  city  reports  "marked 
courtesy  and  respect  on  the  part  of  all."  From  the  West  a 
Chicago  physician  says:  "I  have  been  quite  successful  in 
the  short  time  I  have  been  practicing.  About  one-half  of 
my  patients  are  white."  Another  Chicago  physician  repre- 


304  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

sented  the  State  of  Illinois  at  the  Association  of  Military 
Surgeons  of  the  United  States.  From  Minnesota,  one 
writes:  "I  am  succeeding  in  the  practice  of  medicine  in  a 
city  whose  Negro  population  is  very  small."  From  Denver 
it  is  reported  that  a  Negro  was  the  first  chief  medical  in- 
spector of  the  Denver  health  office,  and  he  was  also  State 
sanitary  officer.  He  has  a  large  practice.  From  the  border 
States  a  Tennessee  doctor  reports:  "I  have  succeeded  in 
building  up  a  good  practice  here  among  my  own  people.  No 
missionary  ever  had  a  better  field  for  useful  labor."  A  man 
who  ranked  his  class  at  the  Harvard  Medical  School  reports  a 
practice  between  $3,000  and  $4,000  a  year  and  says:  "I  am 
fully  successful  as  a  practitioner  and  surgeon,  and  I  believe 
I  enjoy  the  confidence  of  a  large  number  of  people."  From 
Missouri  a  report  says:  "I  meet  with  most  of  the  best  white 
physicians  in  consultation  and  they  treat  me  with  courtesy." 
From  Kentucky  a  young  physician  reports:  "I  am  located 
in  a  town  of  twelve  thousand  inhabitants,  one-third  of  whom 
are  colored,  and  am  thoroughly  convinced  that  there  is  a 
great  field  here  in  the  South  for  the  educated  young  colored 
man.  As  a  physician  I  am  well  received  by  my  white  pro- 
professional  brother."  A  report  from  Baltimore,  Mary- 
land, reads:  uAs  a  physician  I  find  my  practice  a  pay- 
ing one."  From  the  heart  of  the  South  come  many  in- 
teresting reports.  A  North  Carolina  man  says:  "I  have 
a  fair  practice  for  the  length  of  time  I  have  been  at  work. 
My  intercourse  with  the  white  members  of  my  profession 
is  cordial  along  professional  lines.  I  seek  no  others." 
Another  North  Carolina  physician  "has  treated  more  than 
forty  thousand  patients  with  reasonable  success."  He  is 
now  conducting  a  sanitarium  for  consumptives.  A  colored 
man  of  Savannah,  Georgia,  has  been  one  of  the  city  physi- 
cians for  more  than  five  years.  "I  have  treated  no  less  than 
twenty-five  thousand  patients,  including  several  hundred 
whites."  A  Columbia,  South  Carolina,  practitioner  is  often 
"  called  upon  by  white  physicians  to  consult  with  them  in 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  365 

medical  cases  and  assist  in  surgical  cases  in  their  practice. 
I  have  an  extensive  and  paying  practice  among  my  own 
people,  and  a  considerable  practice  among  the  poorer  classes 
of  the  white  people."  An  Arkansas  man  reports  that  he 
"has  had  a  half-interest  in  some  of  the  important  surgical 
operations  done  in  this  city.  I  have  a  large  field  and  am 
often  called  to  see  patients  at  a  distance  of  twenty  and  thirty 
miles."  In  Macoii  Mississippi,  an  unusually  successful 
doctor  says:  "My  practice  here  is  very  large  and  among 
both  colored  and  white.  Before  I  settled  here  no  one  had 
heard  of  a  'colored  doctor.'  The  history  of  my  parents,  who 
had  always  lived  here,  helped  to  establish  me.  I  have  had 
white  people  come  here  from  a  distance  and  board  here  to  get 
my  treatment." 

No  thoughtful  man  can  deny  that  the  work  of  Negro  pro- 
fessional men,  as  thus  indicated,  has  been  and  still  is  of  im- 
mense advantage  in  the  social  uplift  of  the  Negro.  There 
have  of  course  been  numerous  failures,  and  there  has  been 
a  tendency  to  oversupply  the  demand  for  ministers  and 
lawyers.  This  is  natural  and  is  not  a  racial  peculiarity,  nor 
indeed  is  it  chargeable  to  the  higher  education  of  the  Negro. 
It  was  the  natural  and  inevitable  rebound  of  a  race  of  menials 
granted  now  for  the  first  time  some  freedom  of  economic 
choice.  In  the  ministry  this  natural  attraction  was  made 
doubly  strong  by  the  social  prominence  of  the  Negro  church 
and  by  the  undue  ease  with  which  theological  students  can 
get  their  training  all  over  the  land.  Nevertheless,  granting 
all  the  evils  arising  from  some  overcrowding  of  the  profes- 
sions, the  good  accomplished  by  well-trained  ministers,  busi- 
ness-like lawyers  and  skilled  physicians,  has  far  outbal- 
anced it. 

Beside  the  regular  occupations  indicated  above,  college- 
bred  Negroes  have  been  active  in  literary  and  philanthropic 
work  of  various  kinds.  The  following  cases  are  especially 
reported: 

Active    work  in    religious    societies,    101;    investing   in 


366  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

business  enterprises  conducted  by  Negroes,  48;  contributing 
to  Negro  and  other  newspapers,  105;  editing  and  publishing 
newspapers,  40;  lecturers,  21;  college  and  student  aid,  20; 
benevolent  club  work,  9;  farming  and  truck  gardening,  10; 
nurseries,  orphanages  and  homes,  12;  slum,  prison  and 
temperance  work,  16;  organized  charity,  15;  kindergartens 
and  mothers'  meetings,  7;  building  associations,  7;  hospit- 
als, 10;  savings  banks,  4;  contributing  to  magazines,  11; 
papers  before  learned  societies,  9. 

The  above  represent  the  principal  activities  of  450  per- 
sons in  philanthropic  and  social  lines  outside  of  their  regular 
occupations.  Much  of  the  work  thus  done  has  been  of  great 
benefit,  especially  in  the  establishment  of  refuges  and  hos- 
pitals and  business  enterprises  of  various  sorts.  The  char- 
acter of  the  work  done  may  be  gained  from  some  of  the  fol- 
lowing reports  of  social  and  benevolent  activities: 

"One  of  the  founders  of  the  Provident  Hospital,  Chicago." 


"Member  of  the  advisory  board  of  the  St.  Louis  Orphans' 
Home." 


"Member  of  the  board  of  managers  of  the  Home  for  Aged 
and  Infirm  Colored  Persons,  Philadelphia." 


"Member  of  the  board  of  managers  of  the  Educational  and 
Charitable  Association  of  Baltimore,  Maryland." 


"One  of  the   founders  of  McKane   Hospital,  Savannah, 
Georgia." 


"Organizer  of   the  S.   C.  Association  of  Colored  Physi- 
cians." 


'Helping  out  in  a  joint  stock  grocery  company/ 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  367 

"Assisting  in  the  movement  to  secure  a  Home  for  Colored 
Orphans  and  also  to  establish  a  Day  Nursery  for  Poor  Chil- 
dren in  St.  Louis." 


'Helped  establish  the  St.  Louis  Colored  Orphans'  Home.' 


*  *  Was  chief  commissioner  for  the  State  of  Georgia  for  Ne- 
groes at  the  time  of  the  Cotton  States  ExDosition." 


"Have  charge  of  a  Sunday-school,  night  school  and  choir, 
besides  instrumental  and  vocal  music  in  my  church." 


"We  have   organized  a   savings   society   to   loan    small 
amounts  to  members  on  personal  security." 


"I  am  superintendent  of  the  Anti-Saloon   League  work 
among  the  colored  people  of  Arkansas." 


"I  have  assisted  in  establishing  a  drug  store,  a  grocery 
and  a  cigar  factory  in  Durham,  North  Carolina." 


"Beside  my  teaching,  I  am  president  and  manager  of  the 
Orangeburg,  South  Carolina,  Mercantile  Association." 

"Am  a  director  of  the  Capitol  Savings  Bank  and  former 
president  of  the  Industrial  Building  and  Loan  Association, 
Washington,  D.  C." 

"I  established  and,  under  the  management  of  a  partner, 
ran  the  first  store  in  Brownsville,  Tennessee." 


"I  am  a  director  of  the  Home  for  Orphans  and  Aged  Col- 
ored People  in  San  Antonio,  Texas." 

"For  the  last  eight  years  I  have  taught  gratuitously  chil- 
dren of  the  neighboring  farms,  in  Arkansas,  in  my  house  in 
winter,  and  under  the  trees  in  summer." 


368  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

"I  was  one  of  the  chief  promoters  of  the  Colored  Orphan 
Asylum  at  Oxford,  North  Carolina,  to  which  the  State  now 
contributes  $5,000  annually." 


"For  fifteen  years  I  have  been  president  of  the  lady  man- 
agers of  the  Colored  Orphan  Asylum  of  Cincinnati,  Ohio." 

"I  am  interested  in  relief  societies  and  the  Capitol  Savings 
Bank." 

"I  am  president  of  the  McDonough  Memorial  Hospital  of 
New  York  City,  and  have  invested  in  mercantile  ventures." 

"I  am  one  of  the  editors  of  African  Methodist  Sunday- 
school  literature." 


"I  have  raised  in  all  $3,800  toward  purchasing  school  prop- 
erty and  building  school-houses." 

"I  have  aided  forty-three  students  through  college." 

"lam  manager  of  a  teachers'  summer  home  and  normal 
school  Chautauqua  in  Alabama." 

"I  was  instrumental  in  establishing  a  savings  bank  at 
Birmingham ,  Alabama . ' ' 

"I  have  organized  a  citizens  union  in  South  Atlanta, 
Georgia,  for  the  purpose  of  caring  for  the  streets  and  sani- 
tary condition  of  said  place." 

"I  have  helped  conduct  mothers'  meetings  and  helped  in 
charitable  work  of  various  kinds." 


Important  Public  Offices  Held  at  Various  Times  by  Col- 
lege-Bred Negroes. — United  States  minister  to  Hayti;  six 
members  of  the  legislature — North  Carolina,  Illinois,  Geor- 
gia, Tennessee,  Mississippi,  Minnesota;  engrossing  clerk, 
general  assembly;  four  tax  assessors — Illinois,  Arkansas, 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  869 

Mississippi,  North  Carolina;  deputy  collector  of  customs- 
Louisiana;  seven  members  city  council — Kentucky,  North 
Carolina,  Pennsylvania,  Massachusetts;  eight  members 
board  of  education — North  Carolina,  Ohio,  Tennessee,  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia,  Georgia,  Kansas;  five  officials  in  custom 
houses — Louisiana,  Tennessee,  Georgia,  Virginia;  two  State 
superintendents  of  public  instruction — Louisiana,  Alabama; 
two  assistant  district  attorneys — New  York;  two  district 
county  clerks — Kansas;  deputy  circuit  clerk — Arkansas; 
prosecuting  attorney — Illinois;  secretary  of  Haytian  lega- 
tion; tax  collector — Pennsylvania;  mayor — South  Carolina; 
chaplain  house  of  representatives — South  Carolina;  two 
medical  inspectors — Pennsylvania,  Colorado;  registrar  of 
births  and  deaths — West  Indies;  registrar  of  deposits,  United 
States  mint — Louisiana;  warden  of  town — South  Carolina. 

It  is  very  difficult  to  collect  reliable  statistics  of  property 
which  are  not  based  on  actual  records.  It  was  not  advisable, 
therefore,  to  ask  those  to  whom  reports  were  sent  the  amount 
of  property  they  were  worth,  for  with  the  best  of  motives  on 
the  part  of  those  answering,  the  resulting  figures  would  be 
largely  estimates  and  personal  opinion.  One  kind  of  prop- 
erty, however,  is  least  of  all  liable  to  be  unknown  to  per- 
sons, or  to  be  exaggerated  in  honest  reports,  and  that  is  real 
estate.  Each  college-bred  Negro  was  asked,  therefore,  to 
state  the  assessed  value  of  the  real  estate  owned  by  him; 
the  following  table  was  the  result  of  five  hundred  and  fifty- 
seven  answers: 

ASSESSED  VALUATION  OF  REAL  ESTATE. 

Number.  Actual  Amt.  Number.     Actual  Amt. 

Under  $100 3....  $        150.50          $   5,000-6,000 36 ...      $182,275. 

$    100-200 3....  410.                    6,000-7,000 13...          75,540. 

200-300 15....  2,035.                    7,000-8,000 7....          56,500. 

300-400 10....  4,810.                  8,000-10,000 9...          79,375. 

400-500 5....  1,625.                10,000-15,000 17...        161,000. 

500-750  58....  31,400.                15,000-20,000 5...          71,550. 

750-1,000 28...  23,375.                20,000-25,000 1 ....          21,700. 

1,000-2,000 129....  162,230.              Own  no  real  estate    85 

2,000-3,000 73....  158,400. 

3,000-4,000 42....  239,887.  557     $1,342,862.50 

4,000-5,000 18....  82,600.  Average  per  individual,            2,411.00 

24 


370  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

There  is  no  way  of  knowing,  of  course,  how  far  these  five 
hundred  and  fifty-seven  persons  are  representative  of  the  2,331 
Negro  graduates.  All  things  considered,  however,  this  is  prob- 
ably an  understatement  of  the  property  held,  for  while  many 
of  those  not  reporting  held  no  property,  yet  most  of  those  who 
did  report  represent  the  more  recent  graduates  who  have  just 
begun  to  accumulate,  while  numbers  of  the  other  graduates 
with  considerable  property  could  not  be  reached.  Some  who 
are  known  to  own  property  did  not  report  it.  It  is  therefore 
a  conservative  statement  to  say  that  college-bred  Negroes  in 
the  United  States  own  on  an  average  $2,400  worth  of  real 
estate,  assessed  value.  If  the  assessed  value  is  two-thirds  of 
the  real  value  in  most  cases,  this  represents  $3,600  worth  of 
property,  market  value.  To  this  must  be  added  the  worth 
of  all  personal  property,  so  that  the  average  accumulations 
of  this  class  may  average  $5,000  each,  or  $10,000,000  for 
the  group.  Such  figures  are,  of  course,  mere  estimates,  but 
in  the  light  of  the  testimony  they  are  plausible. 

Among  the  most  interesting  of  the  answers  received  were 
those  given  to  the  questions:  "Are  you  hopeful  for  the 
future  of  the  Negro  in  this  country?"  "Have  you  any 
suggestions. 

Following  are  some  of  the  answers  received: 

"The  Negro  must  know  that  he  must  rid  himself  of  ob- 
noxious characteristics,  save  money,  acquire  property,  learn 
trades  and  become  moral.  The  leading  men  among  us  must 
have  sense  enough  to  denounce  the  rapist  as  well  as  the 
lynchers." 

"Guard  well  the  sanctity  of  the  home.  Make  a  home, 
beautify  it,  make  it  pure,  protect  it,  defend  it,  die  by  it.  If 
the  youths  of  our  race  were  sent  out  from  pure,  happy,  well- 
regulated  homes,  half  the  battle  would  be  fought  to  begin 
with." 

"In  spite  of  conditions,  apparently  inauspicious,  I  am 
sufficiently  optimistic  to  be  hopeful  of  the  future  of  the 


IN    HISTO&Y,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP,  371 

American  Negro.  I  consider  the  ostracism,  political,  social, 
industrial,  etc.,  to  which  he  is  subjected,  to  be  a  training 
school  out  of  which  he  will  emerge  a  united  race,  and,  as  a 
necessary  concomitant,  invincible.  The  key  to  the  situation 
is  the  fostering  of  the  spirit  of  race  pride  and  the  formation 
of  ideals,  necessary  to  be  realized  and  possible  of  realization." 


UI  think  the  strong  caste  prejudice  in  certain  sections  will 
lessen  as  those  sections  become  less  provincial  and  more  cos- 
mopolitan." 

"  I  suggest  that  one-tenth  of  his  religious  energy  be  ap- 
plied to  the  accumulation  of  homes  and  desirable  lands." 


"The  future  of  the  Negro  depends  upon  him  making  him- 
self felt  as  a  race.  Not  by  force,  but  by  intelligence  and 
wealth." 


"The  Negro  should  engage  in  business,  have  his  own 
stores,  dry  goods,  drugs,  groceries,  banks,  his  own  profes- 
sional men;  and  make  morality  and  education  the  basis  of 
worth." 

"I  would  suggest  that  we  accumulate  more  property,  get 
homes,  and  that  those  who  have  homes  invest  their  money 
in  Negro  enterprises." 

"I  am  indeed  hopeful  for  our  future.  Daily  I  ride  through 
thousands  of  acres  of  land  owned  by  Negroes  in  Mississippi. 
They  are  happy  and  prospering.  Let  us  fear  God,  treat  our 
white  neighbor  with  courtesy,  save  money  and  educate  our 
children,  and  the  close  of  the  twentieth  century  will  find  us 
a  great  and  prosperous  people." 

"I  have  an  abiding  faith  in  the  triumph  of  the  right,  based 
on  merit,  virtue  and  capacity." 


372  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

"I  am  hopeful  of  the  Negro  in  this  country,  and,  more- 
over, hopeful  of  him  in  Africa.  'Behold,  He  that  keepeth 
Israel  shall  neither  slumber  nor  sleep.' ' 


"Education,  refinement,  character  and  money  will  settle 
the  Negro  problem  everywhere." 


"I  am  hopeful  of  the  future  of  the  race.  As  we  become 
better  educated,  we  shall  then  be  better  prepared  for  our  pro- 
tection. " 


"I  believe  that  the  success  of  the  Negro  is  assured  if  he 
pursues  and  is  allowed  to  pursue  the  different  employments 
that  have  led  to  the  success  of  other  citizens  in  this  country. 
We  must  have  intelligent  laborers,  farmers  and  mechanics 
among  colored  men.  We  must  have  also  men  learned  in 
law,  medicine  and  theology;  in  time,  men  eminent  in  science 
and  literature." 


"For  a  long  time  it  will  be  the  task  of  the  intelligent 
Negro  kindly  to  point  out  deficiencies  of  the  race  and  make 
helpful  suggestions.  Our  country  demands  a  better  Negro. 
To  produce  him  will  require  better  homes,  better  schools  and 
better  churches." 


"Get  everything  that  the  white  man  gets,  and  that  he 
wants.  Protect  the  virtue  of  deserving  females  of  any  race. 
Have  principle  and  dare  defend  it.  These  done  and  clouds 
will  clear  away." 

"I  would  suggest  that  our  leading  men  do  less  talking  on 
the  Negro  question  as  such.  Much  talking  means  much 
concession,  and  much  concession  means  less  opportunity." 


"More  should  turn  their  attention  to  business  and  fewer 
enter  the  urofessions  of  teaching  or  preaching. ' ' 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP. 

'Those  of  us  who  are  getting  out  of  the  wilderness  and 
mire  of  ignorance  and  degradation  must  help  those  who  will 
not  or  cannot  help  themselves." 


"Why  should  I  not  be  hopeful?  The  abandonment  of  the 
priesthood  of  a  race  has  always  been  attended  with  disasters. 
Let  the  Negro  stick  to  his  church  in  the  service  of  God.  Be 
honest,  honorable,  peaceable,  make  and  save  money,  educate 
his  children  as  highly  as  he  can  afford  to." 


"I  suggest  that  religious  and  educational  work  should  be 
done  on  the  missionary  plan  in  the  lanes  and  quarters  where 
the  lowest  and  most  vicious  Negroes  live.  Negro  churches 
are  not  practical  enough  in  their  work.  Religion  is  too  often 
mistaken  for  piety.  Our  educated  young  people  are  too 
high  above  the  masses  to  help  them.  Let  them  personally 
help  in  the  moral  uplift  of  the  criminal  classes  and  especially 
their  children.  Industrial  training  should  be  advocated  for 
the  masses,  but  higher  education  should  not  be  discouraged 
when  the  means  and  ability  are  sufficient." 


"I  am  optimistic  in  spite  of  the  lowering  clouds.  We 
have  but  recently  burst  from  the  storm  and  are  not  far 
enough  away  from  it  to  become  settled.  I  believe  this  to  be 
the  Sturm  und  Drang  period  of  the  Negro's  existence.  I 
am  aware  of  the  strong  arguments  against  such  a  position, 
but  in  the  light  of  the  teaching  of  history  there  must  be, 
there  is,  a  turning-point  down  near  the  gates  of  despair, 
where  once  the  opposing  currents  are  mastered,  brighter 
and  better  conditions  must  arise.  A  better  understanding 
and  the  practical  application  of  the  laws  of  chastity,  morality, 
Christianity;  an  ever-increasing  acquisition  of  wealth  and 
practical  intelligence;  the  adoption  of  principles  of  courageous 
manhood;  the  wholesale  banishment  of  buffoonery  and  insta- 
bility; a  closer  study  of  those  elements  that  have  made  the 
Anglo-Saxon  great,  and  a  strong  pull,  a  long  pull  and 


374  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

a  pull  individually  and  collectively  towards  the  acquisition 
of  the  same  traits,  seem  to  me  to  be  a  few  of  the  essential 
things  that  may  possibly  level  our  barriers.'1 


"As  the  conditions  of  American  life  demand  that  the  Negro 
shall  take  an  active  part  in  bringing  about  a  change  for  the 
better  in  his  situation,  there  are  some  things  which  should 
engage  his  most  earnest  endeavor.  I  venture  to  suggest 
those  that  now  occur  to  me: 

"1.  To  try  and  make  himself  a  necessity.  Whatsoever  his 
hands  find  to  do,  he  must  do  it  so  well  that  his  services  will 
be  indispensable.  And  he  should  strive  to  be  a  producer  as 
well  as  a  consumer.  In  order  to  gain  this  position  let  him 
follow  the  example  of  his  prosperous  Anglo-Saxon  brother, 
namely,  of  cultivating  and  applying  the  resources  of  his  in- 
tellect. To  this  end  an  opportunity  could  be  afforded  by 
means  of  the  University  Extension  system,  adapted  to  the 
peculiar  needs  and  circumstances  of  the  race.  The  plan 
should  provide  for  night  schools,  in  which  professional  men 
and  women  can,  in  their  own  communities,  give  their  services 
freely  or  for  a  small  remuneration. 

"2.    The  practice  of  thrift  and  frugality. 

"3.   The  establishing  of  real  unity  and  co-operation  of  the 


race. 

« 


4.   The  making  the  best  use  of  the  opportunities  which 
are  at  hand. ' ' 

The  literary  activity  of  the  college-bred  Negro  has  not 
been  great,  but  some  of  it  has  had  considerable  importance. 
Nearly  all  the  larger  magazines  and  reviews  have  published 
articles  by  them,  as,  for  instance,  the  Atlantic,  the  Forum, 
the  North  American  Review,  the  Century  &&&  others.  They 
have  published  a  large  number  of  pamphlets,  notably  those 
issued  by  the  American  Negro  Academy,  and  many  religious 
publications.  The  African  M.  R.  Church  Review,  a  quar- 
terly, has  usually  been  under  the  management  of  college 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  375 

men,  and  is  now.     Of  the  larger  publications  in  book  form 

these  may  be  noted: 

Matthew  Anderson:     " Presby terianism  and  Its  Relation 

to  the  Negro." 

J.  W.  B.  Bowen:     "Africa  and  the  American  Negro." 

A.  O.  Coffin:     "A  Land  Without  Chimneys." 

A.  J.  Cooper:     "A  Voice  from  the  South." 

W.  E.  B.  Du  Bois:    "Suppression  of  Slave  Trade. ' '    '  'The 

Philadelphia  Negro." 

F.  J.  Grimke:     "The  Negro,  His  Rights  and  Wrongs." 

A.  Grimke:     "William  L.  Garrison"  (American  Reform- 
ers  Series).      "Charles    Sumner"    (American     Reformers 
Series). 

J.  M.  Gregory:     "Frederick  Douglass." 
W.H.Lewis:     "A  Primer  of  College  Football." 

G.  W.  McClellan:     "Poems." 

C.  W.  Mossell:     "Toussaint  L'Ouverture." 

B.  F.  Ousley:     "Gospels  and  Acts  Translated  Into  Afri- 
can Tongues." 

J.  H.  Paynter:     "Joining  the  Navy." 
W.  H.  Crogman:     "Talks  for  the  Times." 
A.  W.  Pegues:     "Our  Baptist  Ministers  and  Schools." 
W.  S.  Scarborough:     "First  Greek  Lessons."      "Birds 
of  Aristophanes. ' ' 

L.  A.  Scruggs:     "Afro- American  Women  of  Distinction. ' ' 

Alexander  Crummell:     "Africa  and  America." 

J.  M.  Langston:     "From  the  Virginia  Plantation." 

D.  A.  Payne:     "History  of  the  A.  M.  E.  Church." 

Let  us  now  gather  up  the  scattered  threads  of  this  social 
study  and  seek  the  lesson  which  the  accumulated  facts  have 
to  teach.  We  have  learned  that  there  are  in  the  United 
States  thirty-four  institutions  designed  especially  for  Ne- 
groes, which  give  collegiate  instruction  leading  to  the 
bachelor's  degree.  Besides  these,  seventy-three  other  col- 
leges of  the  land  have  Negro  graduates,  so  that  in  all  we 
have  a  record  of  2,331  Negro  graduates  of  college  courses. 

24 


376  THE    NEGRO    TN    REVELATION, 

We  have  studied  these  graduates  carefully  so  far  as  the  re- 
ports submitted  have  enabled  us  to.  They  are  mostly 
freedmeii's  sons  and  grandsons  who  have  gained  this  train- 
ing by  self-denial  and  striving.  They  usually  marry  be- 
tween the  ages  of  twenty-five  and  thirty-five,  go  to  work  in 
the  South  at  teaching,  preaching,  practicing  the  professions, 
or  in  the  civil  service  or  business  life.  They  have  accumu- 
lated property  and  usually  made  good  citizens  and  leaders. 

Several  questions  may  now  be  asked:  First — Is  the  college 
training  of  Negroes  necessary?  Second — If  so,  how  large 
a  proportion  of  the  total  expenditure  for  education  ought  to 
be  devoted  to  this  training?  Third — What  curriculum  of 
studies  is  best  suited  to  young  Negroes? 

A.  Is  the  college  training  of  Negroes  necessary?  A  few 
opinions  of  prominent  men  in  answer  to  this  query  are  sub- 
joined. They  are  partly  in  answer  to  a  circular  letter  sent 
to  a  few  college  presidents: 

I  believe  not  only  in  common  school  and  industrial  edu- 
cation for  the  Negroes  of  the  South,  but  also  in  their  higher 
education.  The  higher  education  is  necessary  to  maintain 
the  standards  of  the  lower.  Yours  truly, 

GEORGE  E.  MACLEAN, 
President  of  the  State  University  of  Iowa. 

December  11,  1900. 


I  believe  fully  in  the  higher  education  of  every  man  and 
woman  whose  character  and  ability  is  such  as  to  make  such 
training  possible.  There  are  relatively  fewer  of  such  per- 
sons among  the  Negroes  than  among  Anglo-Saxons,  but  for 
all  of  these  the  higher  training  is  just  as  necessary  and  just 
as  effective  as  for  anyone  else. 

For  the  great  body  of  the  Negroes  the  industrial  and 
moral  training  already  so  well  given  in  certain  schools  seems 
to  me  to  offer  the  greatest  hope  for  the  future. 

Very  truly  yours,  DAVID  S.  JORDAN, 

President  of  Leland  Stanford  Junior  University. 

December  14,  1900. 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  377 

Your  circular  of  December  8th  comes  duly  to  hand.  In 
response  I  would  say  that  in  my  judgment  no  race  or  color 
is  entitled  to  monopolize  the  benefits  of  the  higher  education. 
If  any  race  is  entitled  to  be  specially  favored  in  this  respect, 
I  should  say  it  is  the  one  that  has  by  the  agency  of  others 
been  longest  deprived  thereof. 

Yours  cordially,  WM.  F.  WARREN, 

December  13,  1900.         President  of  Boston  University. 

In  reply  to  your  request  of  December  5th,  I  would  say 
that  it  seems  to  me  that  the  collegiate  or  higher  education  is 
not  a  special  favor  to  be  granted  to  men  on  the  ground  of 
race,  family,  or  any  such  minor  consideration.  The  only 
condition  for  the  receiving  of  a  college  education  should  be 
the  ability  to  appreciate  and  to  use  it.  Human  nature  is 
substantially  the  same  everywhere.  It  should  be  the  glory 
of  our  country  to  afford  to  all  her  young  men  and  women 
who  crave  the  broadest  culture  and  who  have  the  spirit  and 
ability  to  acquire  it,  the  amplest  opportunity  for  develop- 
ment. Looking  at  it  more  specifically,  I  can  see  that  the 
general  uplifting  of  our  Negro  population  requires  a  proper 
percentage  of  college-bred  Negro  leaders. 

Yours  sincerely,  GEORGE  C.  CHASE, 

December  17,  1900  President  of  Bates  College. 


You  ask  for  my  opinion  in  regard  to  the  desirableness  of 
higher  training  for  the  Negroes.  Let  me  begin  my  state- 
ment by  saying  that  I  have  the  utmost  faith  in  the  manage- 
ment of  the  Atlanta  University  and  several  other  institu- 
tions for  the  training  of  Negroes  in  the  South.  I  will, 
however,  candidly  say  that  in  my  judgment  there  are  a  great 
many  of  the  Negroes  whom  it  is  not  worth  while  to  guide 
through  a  course  of  university  training.  I  think  that  is 
true  also  of  the  white  race,  but  in  the  present  condition  it  is 
peculiarly  true  with  regard  to  colored  people.  My  idea 
would  be  that  all  the  training  that  the  colored  man  is  capa- 


378  THE    NEGkO    IN    REVELATION, 

ble  of  thoroughly  mastering  should  be  given  him,  but  that 
in  the  higher  departments  of  learning,  like  political  economy 
and  history,  the  ancient  classics  and  the  natural  sciences, 
only  selected  men  should  be  given  the  fullest  opportunities. 
I  have  the  strongest  confidence  that  such  training  as  is  given 
at  Hampton  and  at  Tuskegee,  largely  manual  and  indus- 
trial, is  of  the  greatest  importance  for  the  Negroes,  and  is  to 
be  the  means  of  fitting  the  race  a  generation  or  two  hence, 
to  enter  more  fully  into  the  more  abstract  and  philosophical 
studies.  I  do  not  know  that  I  have  made  myself  perfectly 
clear,  but  in  a  general  way  I  should  say  the  multiplication  of 
universities  of  the  higher  sort  is  not  desirable  in  comparison 
with  the  multiplication  of  training  schools  for  all  the  trades 
and  manual  activities. 

With  best  wishes,  very  sincerely  yours, 

FRANKLIN  CARTER, 
December  12,  1900.          President  of  Williams  College. 

I  believe  in  the  Southern  Negro  college  and  the  higher 

education  of  Negroes 

Very  truly  yours,  JOSEPH  SWAIN, 

President  University  of  Indiana. 
December  10,  1900. 

I  am,  like  many  others,  greatly  interested  in  the  question 
of  education  of  the  Negroes.  There  seems  to  me  to  be  a 
place  for  the  college  properly  so-called  which  shall  teach  a 
certain  number,  who  may  be  leaders  of  their  race  in  the 
South,  as  preachers  and  advanced  teachers.  At  the  same 
time  I  have  much  sympathy  with  Mr.  Booker  T.  Wash- 
ington's idea,  that  a  large  proportion  of  them  should  be  ed- 
ucated for  industrial  pursuits.  Yours  truly, 

JAMES  B.  ANGELL, 

December  10,  1900.     President  University  of  Michigan. 

President  Charles  W.  Eliot,  of  Harvard  College,  in  an  ad- 
dress at  Trinity  Church,  Boston,  said: 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  379 

"How,  then,  are  the  teachers,  the  preachers,  the  physi- 
cians for  the  colored  race  of  the. South  to  be  provided,  unless 
the  South  has  institutions  of  the  higher  education,  serving 
the  Negro,  fitting  him  for  these  higher  positions?  We  know 
very  well  that  the  Negro,  as  he  rises  in  the  social  scale,  will 
live  in  better  houses  and  follow  better  trades,  and,  in  general, 
be  industrially  and  financially  elevated. 

"But  there  is  another  essential  thing — namely,  that  the 
teachers,  preachers,  physicians,  lawyers,  engineers,  and 
superior  mechanics,  the  leaders  of  industry,  throughout  the 
Negro  communities  of  the  South,  should  be  trained  in  su- 
perior institutions.  If  any  expect  that  the  Negro  teachers 
of  the  South  can  be  adequately  educated  in  primary  schools 
or  grammar  schools  or  industrial  schools  pure  and  simple,  I 
can  only  say  in  reply  that  that  is  more  than  we  can  do  at  the 
North  with  the  white  race.  The  only  way  to  have  good  pri- 
mary schools  and  grammar  schools  in  Massachusetts  is  to 
have  high  and  normal  schools  and  colleges,  in  which  the 
higher  teachers  are  trained.  It  must  be  so  throughout  the 
South:  the  Negro  race  needs  absolutely  these  higher  facilities 
of  education." 


President  William  D.  Hyde,  of  Bowdoin  College,  in  an 
address  at  Trinity  Church,  Boston,  said: 

"The  higher  education  is  the  last  thing  that  the  individ- 
ual pupil  reaches;  it  is  what  he  looks  toward  as  the  end. 
But  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  teachers,  from  the  point  of 
view  of  the  educational  system,  the  higher  education  is  the 
very  source  and  center  and  beginning  of  it  all;  and  if  this 
is  wanting  the  whole  must  collapse.  Take  away  the  higher 
education  and  you  cannot  maintain  the  level  of  the  lower;  it 
degenerates,  it  becomes  corrupt,  and  you  get  nothing  but 
pretentiousness  and  superficialty  as  the  residuum.  In  order 
to  maintain  the  lower  education  which  must  be  given  to  the 
South,  you  must  have  a  few  well-equipped  institutions  of 
higher  learning." 


380  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION. 

William  T.  Harris,  United  States  Commissioner  of  Edu- 
cation in  an  address  to  the  students  of  Atlanta  University, 
said: 

''It  gives  me  great  pleasure  to  meet  you.  I  have  heard  of 
the  great  work  that  this  school  has  done  in  the  higher  edu- 
cation of  the  colored  people.  I  am  glad  to  see  you,  and  con- 
gratulate you  on  the  fact  of  getting  higher  education.  It  is 
good  for  you  to  get  lower  education,  and  then  still  better  to 
get  higher  education.  Your  people  have  lived  for  two  or 
three  hundred  years  in  this  country,  and  have  learned  the 
methods  of  white  people,  and,  as  I  said  in  Washington,  while 
speaking  on  this  subject,  you  have  the  same  mind  that  the 
white  people  have.  Now,  as  it  is  very  necessary  for  white 
people  to  study  Latin  and  Greek,  so  it  is  very  necessary  for 
you.  If  you  lived  in  Egypt,  Abyssinia,  or  Arabia,  it  would 
not  be  so  necessary  to  study  Latin  and  Greek,  but  people 
who  live  in  the  United  States,  France,  England,  Italy,  or 
Germany,  are  greatly  helped  by  these  studies. 

"There  are  a  great  many  people  who  think  colored  people 
should  not  have  the  higher  education.  Now,  I  would  not 
discourage  the  study  of  mechanics  and  industrial  education, 
but  it  is  very  important  to  study  Greek  and  Latin.  Some 
people  say  it  is  better  to  know  how  to  work  than  to  study 
Greek  and  Latin,  because  work  is  practical;  but  nothing  is 
more  practical  than  getting  an  insight  into  the  civilization  of 
which  we  form  a  part,  and  into  the  motives  of  the  people 
among  whom  we  live. 

"Now,  it  is  a  very  necessary  thing  that  the  higher  educa- 
tion should  be  opened  to  every  part  of  the  whole  community. 
For  the  colored  people  to  be  self-directing,  they  must  have 
higher  education.  They  will  be  appreciated  for  the  good 
they  can  do,  and  will  be  respected  because  they  are  helping 
the  common  civilization.  We  should  understand  also  the 
art  of  invention.  That  is  what  this  Atlanta  Exposition  is 
showing.  The  colored  man  is  not  always  going  to  be  the 


382  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

person  who  draws  water  and  cuts  wood;  he  is  going  to  help 
on  with  civilization.  He  is  going  to  be  up  on  all  the  diffi- 
cult questions.  He  is  going  to  study  mathematics,  sciences 
and  the  languages. 

"And  you  must  not  be  misled  by  the  opposition  to  the 
higher  education.  But  you  should  uphold  it  in  your  homes 
and  among  your  people  until  many  more  are  seeking  it. " 

It  seems  fair  to  assume,  from  these  and  other  letters,  that 
the  conservative  public  opinion  of  the  best  classes  in  America 
believe  that  there  is  a  distinct  place  for  the  Negro  college 
designed  to  give  higher  training  to  the  more  gifted  members 
of  the  race;  that  leaders  thus  trained  are  a  great  necessity  in 
any  community  and  in  any  group.  On  the  other  hand,  there 
is  considerable  difference  of  opinion  probably  as  to  how  large 
this  "Talented  Tenth"  is — some  speaking  as  though  it  were 
a  negligible  quantity,  others  as  though  it  might  be  a  very 
large  and  important  body. 

The  opinions  of  some  other  persons  ought  perhaps  be 
added  to  the  above.  First,  there  is  the  almost  unbroken  line 
of  testimony  of  the  heads  of  Negro  colleges;  this  is,  of  course, 
interested  testimony,  and  yet  it  is  of  some  value  as  evidence. 
A  man  who  left  a  chair  in  the  University  of  Michigan  to  go 
South  and  teach  Negroes  before  the  war  ended,  wrote  after 
twenty-five  years'  experience  in  college  work: 

uBy  this  experiment  certainly  one  thing  has  been  settled: 
the  ability  of  a  goodly  number  of  those  of  the  colored  race 
to  receive  what  is  called  a  liberal  education. 

'  'The  entire  work  of  instruction  in  the  colored  public  schools 
of  the  South  is  done  by  colored  teachers.  These  teachers 
cannot  be  prepared  in  the  white  schools  and  colleges  of  the 
South.  Where,  then,  shall  they  be  prepared,  if  not  in  special 
higher  institutions  of  learning  open  to  them?  What  is  to 
become  of  the  millions  of  colored  people  in  the  United  States? 
Who  are  to  be  their  leaders?  Doubtless  persons  of  their  own 
race.  Do  they  need  less  preparation  for  their  calling  than 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  383 

do  members  of  the  white  race  for  theirs?  Is  not  their  task 
even  more  difficult?  Have  they  not  questions  of  greater  in- 
tricacy to  solve?  Did  not  Moses,  when  leading  ex-slaves  out 
of  Egypt,  need  special  wisdom?  Are  not  the  colored  people 
of  today  'perishing  for  lack  of  knowledge?' 

"But  the  objector  will  say,  Why  have  these  long  courses, 
these  colleges  for  colored  people?  Would  not  shorter  courses 
be  as  well,  or  even  better?  The  following  is  my  belief  on 
this  point,  after  twenty-five  years  of  thought  and  experience: 
If  the  Negro  is  equal  to  the  white  man  in  heredity  and  envi- 
ronment, he  needs  an  .equal  chance  in  education;  if  he  is 
superior,  he  can  get  on  with  less;  if  he  is  inferior,  he  needs 
more.  The  education  required  is  not  simply  that  of  books, 
but  of  life  in  Christian  homes,  such  as  are  supplied  in  nearly 
all  our  missionary  schools  for  that  people,  and  of  religion 
through  the  Christian  Church  and  its  influences." 

The  president  of  another  Negro  college  said: 

"To  imagine  that  the  Negro  can  safely  do  without  any  of 
the  institutions  or  instrumentalities  which  were  essential  to 
our  own  advancement,  is  to  assume  that  the  Negro  is  superior 
to  the  white  man  in  mental  capacity.  To  deprive  him  of  any 
of  these  advantages,  which  he  is  capable  of  using,  would  be 
to  defraud  ourselves,  as  a  nation  and  a  Christian  Church,  of 
all  the  added  power  which  his  developed  manhood  should 
bring  to  us.  It  does  not  seem  to  be  necessary  in  this  audience 
to  discuss  the  proposition  that  intelligence  is  power,  and  that 
the  only  road  to  intelligence  is  through  mental  discipline 
conducted  under  moral  influences." 

These  two  extracts  sufficiently  represent  the  almost  unani- 
mous opinion  of  the  presidents  and  teachers  in  Negro  colleges, 
that  this  training  is  a  success  and  necessity. 

From  a  careful  consideration  of  the  facts,  and  of  such  tes- 
timony as  has  been  given,  the  following  propositions  seem 
clear: 

1.  The  great  mass  of  the  Negroes  needs  common  school 
and  manual  training. 


384  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

2.  There  is  a  large  and  growing  demand  for  industrial  and 
technical  training,  and  trade  schools. 

3.  There  is  a  distinct  demand  for  the  higher  training  of 
persons   selected   for   talent   and  character  to  be  leaders  of 
thought  and  missionaries  of  culture  among  the  masses. 

4.  To  supply  this  demand  for  a  higher  training  there  ought 
to  be  maintained  several  Negro  colleges  in  the  South. 

5.  The  aim  of  these  colleges  should  be  to  supply  thor- 
oughly trained    teachers,   preachers,  professional  men  and 
captains  of  industry. 

Finally  we  come  to  the  query: 

What  curriculum  of  college  studies  is  best  suited  to  young 
Negroes? 

Little  careful  work  has  been  done  in  the  direction  of  ascer- 
taining what  improvements  in  the  Negro  college  course  are 
needed.  Nor  is  this  strange;  so  much  time  and  energy  is 
consumed  in  collecting  funds  and  defending  principles  that 
there  is  little  leisure  left  presidents  for  internal  adjustment 
and  development.  The  exposition  and  comparison  of  college 
courses  made  elsewhere  in  this  book,  show  obvious  faults. 
The  older  New  England  college  curriculum  of  forty  years 
ago  still  holds  in  the  Southern  institutions  with  little  change. 
This  should  be  remedied.  A  large  place  should  be  made  for 
English,  history  and  natural  science  in  most  curricula  at  the 
expense  of  some  other  studies.  Various  other  changes  might 
obviously  be  made.  All  this  work  can  easily  be  done  when 
the  existence  problem  of  these  struggling  institutions  is  nearer 
solution. 

The  central  truth  which  this  study  teaches  to  the  candid 
mind  is  the  success  of  higher  education  under  the  limitations 
and  difficulties  of  the  past.  To  be  sure,  that  training  can 
be  criticised  justly  on  many  points.  Its  curriculum  was  not 
the  best;  many  persons  of  slight  ability  were  urged  to  study 
algebra  before  they  had  mastered  arithmetic,  or  German  before 
they  knew  English;  quantity  rather  than  quality  was  in  some 
cases  sought  in  the  graduates,  and,  above  all,  there  was  a 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  385 

tendency  to  urge  men  into  the  professions,  particularly  the 
ministry,  and  to  overlook  business  and  the  mechanical  trades. 
All  these  charges  brought  against  the  higher  training  of  Ne- 
groes in  the  past,  have  much  of  truth  in  them.  The  defects 
lay  in  the  application  of  the  principle,  not  in  the  principle; 
in  poor  teaching  and  studying  rather  than  in  lack  of  need 
for  college-trained  men.  Courses  need  to  be  changed  and 
improved,  teachers  need  to  be  better  equipped,  students  need 
more  careful  sifting.  With  such  reform  there  can  be  no  rea- 
sonable doubt  of  the  continued  and  growing  need  for  a  training 
of  Negro  youth,  the  chief  aim  of  which  is  culture  rather  than 
bread- winning.  Nor  does  this  plain  demand  have  anything 
in  it  of  opposition  or  antagonism  to  industrial  training — to 
those  schools  which  aim  directly  at  teaching  the  Negro  to 
work  with  his  own  hands.  Quite  the  contrary  is  the  case, 
and  it  is  indeed  unfortunate  that  the  often  intemperate  and 
exaggerated  utterances  of  some  advocates  of  Negro  education 
have  led  the  public  mind  to  conceive  of  the  two  kinds  of 
education  as  opposed  to  each  other.  They  are  rather  supple- 
mentary and  mutually  helpful  in  the  great  end  of  solving 
the  Negro  problem.  We  need  thrift  and  skill  among  the 
masses,  we  need  thought  and  culture  among  the  leaders.  As 
the  editor  has  had  occasion  to  say  before: 

"In  a  scheme  such  as  I  have  outlined,  providing  the  rudi- 
ments of  an  education  for  all,  industrial  training  for  the 
many  and  a  college  course  for  the  talented  few,  I  fail  to  see 
anything  contradictory  or  antagonistic.  I  yield  to  no  one  in 
advocacy  of  the  recently  popularized  notion  of  Negro  indus- 
trial training,  nor  in  admiration  for  the  earnest  men  who 
emphasize  it.  At  the  same  time,  I  insist  that  its  widest 
realization  will  but  increase  the  demand  for  college-bred  men 
— for  thinkers  to  guide  the  workers.  Indeed,  all  who  are 
working  for  the  uplifting  of  the  American  Negro  have  little 
need  of  disagreement  if  they  but  remember  this  fundamental 
and  unchangeable  truth:  The  object  of  all  true  education  is  not 
to  make  men  carpenters — it  is  to  make  carpenters  men" 


25 


M.  W.  GIBBS. 
Ex-United  States  Consul    to   Tamatave,   Madagascar, 


CHAPTER  XIV. 
HISTORY  OF  SOME  NEGRO  UNIVERSITIES. 

'T'HERE  are  now  in  the  United  States  nearly  forty  institu- 
tions designed  especially  for  the  higher  education  of  the 
Negro  race — giving  them  college  and  university  training. 
We  give  the  history  of  three  old  and  prominent  ones,  to  in- 
dicate how  promptly  the  country  acted  after  the  close  of  the 
war  to  provide  facilities  for  the  thorough  education  of  a  gen- 
eration of  colored  people  who  were  now  to  take  upon  them- 
selves, for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  their  race,  the  duties 
and  responsibilities  of  citizenship.  How  promptly  they 
availed  themselves  of  the  opportunities  offered  them  may  be 
gathered  by  a  study  of  the  book  of  which  this  chapter  forms 
a  part. 

I.    SHAW  UNIVERSITY. 

President  Charles  F.  Meserve  gives  the  following  account 
of  the  rise,  progress  and  work  of  this  school: 

Shaw  University — named  in  honor  of  the  late  Elijah  Shaw, 
of  Wales,  Massachusetts,  is  situated  in  Raleigh,  the  capital 
city  of  North  Carolina.  It  has  a  beautiful  location,  within 
the  city  limits,  and  is  only  a  few  minutes'  walk  from  the 
Union  Station,  the  Capitol,  and  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment Building. 

Although  within  the  city  limits,  it  has  an  entire  square  to 
itself,  and  is  as  quiet  and  secluded  as  if  it  were  situated  miles 
away  in  the  country.  This  quiet  and  seclusion,  together 
with  a  bountiful  supply  of  pure  water,  perfect  sanitation  and 
sewerage  and  other  city  advantages,  make  Shaw  well-nigh 
an  ideal  place  for  study.  Its  grounds  are  spacious  and  well 
kept,  and  its  principal  buildings  large,  imposing  brick  struct- 
ures. Its  buildings  (eleven  in  number)  and  grounds  are  the 
most  attractive  feature  in  the  southern  part  of  the  city. 

387  V 


388  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION. 

This  institution  was  started  in  a  very  humble  way  in  a 
Negro  cabin  on  the  outskirts  of  the  city  in  the  year  1865,  by 
Rev.  Henry  Martin  Tupper,  an  ex-Union  soldier  and  a  native 
of  Monson,  Massachusetts.  The  enterprise  grew  on  his 
hands,  and  a  larger  building  became  necessary,  but  there  was 
little  money  either  for  carrying  on  or  extending  the  work. 
Accordingly,  with  a  few  faithful  helpers,  day  after  day,  he 
shouldered  his  axe  and  went  out  of  the  city  into  the  woods, 
and  together  they  felled  huge  yellow  pines  and  hewed  the 
logs  into  timber.  After  many  weeks  of  struggling,  and  after 
receiving  a  little  help  from  the  North,  the  actual  work  of 
building  began.  A  large  two-story  structure,  to  be  used  both 
for  a  church  and  a  school,  was  finally  erected  on  Blount 
street,  a  block  north  of  the  present  location  of  the  university. 

The  work  continued  to  grow,  and  again  larger  quarters 
were  required.  At  this  juncture  the  mansion  and  grounds 
of  the  late  General  Barringer,  ex-minister  to  Spain,  were  for 
sale.  This  property,  comprising  several  buildings  and  twelve 
acres  of  land,  and  occupying  an  entire  square,  was  purchased, 
and  then  began  the  great  expansion  that  has  made  the  insti- 
tution what  it  is  today.  Shaw  was  incorporated  in  1875. 
At  that  time  the  work  was  more  elementary  than  now,  but 
such  as  was  adapted  to  the  needs  of  the  people.  The  man- 
agement, however,  has  kept  pace  constantly  with  the  prog- 
ress of  the  race  and  the  demands  of  the  times,  until  there  are 
today,  in  addition  to  normal,  college,  missionary  training, 
and  industrial  departments,  schools  of  law,  medicine  and 
pharmacy. 

The  blessing  that  Shaw  has  been  to  the  colored  race  can 
hardly  be  estimated.  Thousands  of  young  men  and  women 
have  gone  forth  from  her  walls  into  positions  of  usefulness 
and  influence.  They  are  found  in  nearly  every  State  and 
Territory  of  the  Union ,  though  naturally  the  largest  numbers 
are  found  in  the  South.  They  are  making  their  way  in 
every  walk  in  life,  and  the  majority  of  them  are  the  sub- 
stantial, influential  leaders  of  the  race.  In  the  teaching  pro- 


JOHN  R.  LYNCH. 
Paymaster  in  United  States  Army. 


390  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

fession  they  have  made  themselves  particularly  felt.  At  one 
time  five  of  the  seven  colored  normal  schools  of  the  State  were 
presided  over  by  principals  who  received  their  education  at 
Shaw  University.  Dr.  J.  O.  Crosby,  for  some  years  presi- 
dent of  the  State  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  College  for 
Colored  Young  Men  and  Women;  Dr.  B.  B.  Smith,  ex- 
minister  to  Liberia;  Hon.  H.  P.  Cheatham,  for  several  years 
a  member  of  Congress,  and  at  present  recorder  of  deeds  of 
the  District  of  Columbia,  as  well  as  several  of  the  professors 
at  Shaw,  are  Shaw  men. 

The  Third  North  Carolina  Regiment  of  United  States  In- 
fantry is  composed  of  colored  men,  and  Shaw  figures  promi- 
nently in  this  regiment.  Col.  James  H.  Young,  Adjutant 
B.  B.  Smith,  Chief  Surgeon  J.  B,  Dellinger,  Assistant  Sur- 
geons M.  T.  Pope  and  M.  W.  Alston,  Captains  J.  J.  Hood 
and  J.  T.  York,  and  other  officers  and  many  in  the  ranks  are 
graduates  or  former  students  of  Shaw.  The  chief  surgeon 
and  his  assistants  and  Captain  Hood  are  graduates  of  the 
medical  department. 

Graduates  of  the  law  department  go  into  court  and  plead 
their  cases  with  the  same  courteous  treatment  from  judge  and 
jury  as  is  accorded  to  white  members  of  the  bar. 

Success  has  also  been  won  by  the  graduates  in  medicine 
and  pharmacy,  and  they  are  found  very  generally  throughout 
the  Southland.  A  graduate  in  pharmacy,  A.  W.  Benson, 
of  Atlanta,  class  of  '95,  was  the  first  colored  man  to  obtain  a 
license  from  the  Virginia  Board  of  Bxaminers.  His  stand- 
ing in  examination  was  slightly  in  excess  of  95  per  cent. 
The  first  man  of  any  race  to  receive  100  per  cent,  in  an  ex- 
amination before  the  Virginia  Board  of  Medical  Bxaminers 
was  C.  R.  Alexander,  of  Lynchburg,  class  of  1891,  who 
practiced  medicine  for  several  years  in  Petersburg,  Virginia, 
and  had  the  respect  and  confidence  of  the  community.  He 
is  at  present  chief  surgeon  of  the  Sixth  Regiment  of  United 
States  Infantry  from  Virginia. 

A  goodly  number  of  our  young  men,  as  has  been  the  case 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  391 

from  the  founding  of  the  institution,  are  studying  for  the 
ministry.  Shaw  has  furnished  nearly  all  of  the  denomina- 
tional leaders  in  North  Carolina  and  many  in  other  States. 
In  the  gospel  ministry  her  greatest  influence  has  been  ex- 
erted, for  her  theological  department  has  always  been  well 
attended,  and  the  minister  is  still  the  influential  factor  in  di- 
recting the  life  of  the  great  masses  of  colored  people  in  every 
community. 

Many  of  her  former  students  are  thrifty  farmers,  success- 
ful business  men,  and  occupy  positions  of  honor  and  trust  in 
their  respective  counties.  The  aim  of  the  institution,  from 
the  very  beginning,  has  been  to  turn  out  well-equipped 
Christian  men  and  women  who  shall  be  leaders  in  the  best 
sense  of  the  term,  and  thus,  indirectly,  but  effectually,  reach 
the  masses  of  the  people.  This  has  been  done  with  signal 
and  gratifying  success. 

Shaw  believes  in  co-education.  Men  and  women  meet  in 
the  class-room,  in  the  chapel  and  around  the  family  board, 
on  terms  of  equality.  The  women's  department  is  known  as 
Estey  Seminary.  Estey  Hall,  the  gift  of  the  late  Deacon 
Estey,  of  Brattleboro,  Vermont,  is  said  to  be  the  first  building 
ever  erected  for  the  education  of  colored  women.  It  was  pre- 
dicted that  co-education  would  be  a  dismal  and  disgusting 
failure,  but  it  should  be  said  to  the  great  credit  of  the  race 
that  there  never  has  been  a  scandal  connected  with  the  insti- 
tution. 

The  influence  exerted  by  Shaw  is  well-nigh  world-wide. 
At  the  present  time  she  has  students  from  the  West  Indies 
and  Africa,  and  has  enrolled  them  from  Central  and  South 
America.  Although  a  Home  Mission  School,  her  spirit 
reaches  out  to  other  lands.  Missionary  Hayes,  the  well- 
known  African  missionary,  was  a  Shaw  student.  Dr.  Lulu 
C.  Fleming  and  four  others  from  Shaw  are  in  missionary 
work  on  the  Congo. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  Shaw  men  and  women  do  not  be- 
come criminals,  and  seldom,  if  ever,  do  educated  colored 

25 


392 


THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 


young  men  and  women  belong  to  the  criminal  or  lawless 
classes.  Rather  are  they  conservators  of  law  and  order  and 
preservers  of  the  peace.  Our  students  and  graduates  are,  as 
a  rule,  Christian  men  and  women  of  clean  lives,  and  some  of 
them  are  earnest  workers  in  the  cause  of  temperance  and  social 
purity. 

N.   F.    ROBER.TS,  D.  D. 

N.  F.  Roberts,  D.  D.,  was  born  in  Seaboard,  North  Caro- 
lina, October  13,  1849.     He  spent  his  early  years  upon  a 


N.  F.  ROBERTS,  D.  D. 
Vice-President  Shaw  University. 

farm.  He  evinced  very  early  an  eager  desire  for  knowledge, 
and  showed  especial  liking  for  mathematics,  being  considered 
a  genius  in  his  neighborhood.  In  October,  1871,  he  entered 
Shaw  University,  graduating  in  1878.  On  graduation  he 
was  made  professor  of  mathematics  in  the  university,  a  posi- 
tion which  he  still  holds.  He  is  also  vice-president  of  the 
institution.  He  has  served  as  pastor  of  different  churches; 
for  many  years  has  been  president  of  the  Baptist  State 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP, 


393 


Sunday-school  Convention;  has  been  corresponding  secretary 
and  the  president  of  the  Baptist  State  Convention,  and  has 
done  considerable  editorial  work.  He  is  business  manager 
of  the  Baptist  Sentinel 


A.    W.   PEGUES,   PH.   D. 


A.  W.  Pegues,  Ph.  D.,  was  born  of  slave  parents  in  1859, 
near  Cheraw,  South  Carolina.  During  the  winter  of  1866-7, 
he  spent  a  few  months  in  the  school-room,  but  on  the  death 


A.  W.  PEGUES,  PH.  D. 

of  his  father  was  obliged  to  return  to  work  on  the  farm.  At 
the  age  of  eleven  years  he  was  thrown  upon  his  own  resources. 
For  four  months  in  each  of  the  years  of  1871-2-3  he  walked 
three  miles  to  attend  night  school.  In  1876  he  entered 
Benedict  Institute  at  Columbia,  South  Carolina.  In  1879 
he  entered  Richmond  Theological  Seminary,  from  which  he 
graduated  as  class  valedictorian  in  1882.  He  then  spent 
two  years  in  Bucknell  University,  meanwhile  supplying  the 
church  at  Williamsport,  Pennsylvania.  Three  years  later 


394  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

he  received  from  the  university  the  degree  of  Ph.  D.  In 
189-i  and  1895  he  was  Sunday-school  missionary  for  North 
Carolina;  he  then  served  for  three  years  as  supervisor  of  the 
Colored  Institution  for  the  Deaf,  Dumb  and  Blind.  In  1897 
he  accepted  the  position  of  dean  of  the  theological  department 
of  Shaw  University. 

GRACE  J.   THOMPSON 

Grace  J.  Thompson  says  of  herself:  "I  was  born  in  Dar- 
lington, South  Carolina,  January  25,  1875.  My  parents 
were  not  educated,  and  lived  in  an  humble  way  all  through 


GRACE  J.  THOMPSON. 

my  early  years;  my  mother,  assisted  by  the  smaller  children, 
gave  her  time  to  sewing  and  laundry  work  as  means  of  sup- 
port, and  my  three  older  brothers,  who  took  the  responsibili- 
ties of  a  father,  devoted  theirs  to  trades.  My  father  died  in 
my  twelfth  year.  Because  of  these  things,  and  because  of 
the  poor  school  system  of  Darlington,  the  educational  ad- 
vantages offered  were  poor  until  1889,  at  which  time  the 
system  was  revised. 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  395 

"From  the  Mayo  graded  school  I  graduated  in  1894. 
Having  finished  from  this  school,  I  attempted  to  teach;  but 
as  I  lacked  the  training  which  I  did  not  get  from  the  public 
school,  my  attempt  was  a  complete  failure.  The  following 
fall  I  went  to  Shaw  University,  where  I  remained  four  years, 
graduating  in  1897.  In  September,  1898,  I  came  to  Little 
Rock,  Arkansas,  as  a  teacher  in  the  Arkansas  Baptist 
College." 

II.     ROGER  WILLIAMS   UNIVERSITY. 

Roger  Williams  University  was  founded  in  the  city  of 
Nashville,  in  1864,  by  Rev.  D.  W.  Phillips,  D.  D.,  a  Bap- 
tist minister  who  came  here  from  New  Kngland.  Its  begin- 
ning was  small.  At  first  Doctor  Phillips  taught  a  class  of 
colored  men  at  his  own  home.  Later  he  secured  a  room  in 
the  basement  of  the  Spruce  Street  Colored  Baptist  Church. 
In  1865  he  had  formulated  his  plan  for  a  school,  so  he  went 
north  and  raised  money  enough  among  the  philanthropic 
white  people  to  purchase  a  site  and  erect  a  wooden  building. 
This  building  is  now  the  Thirteenth  District  Colored  School, 
of  Nashville.  In  it  Dr.  Phillips  maintained  the  school  until 
1873,  when,  by  the  munificent  bequest  of  Nathan  Bishop,  of 
New  York,  the  Baptist  Home  Missionary  Society  was  en- 
abled to  purchase  the  present  beautiful  plot  of  thirty  acres  of 
land  on  the  Hillsboro  pike,  opposite  Garland  avenue,  and 
erect  a  building  costing  fifty  thousand  dollars,  now  used  for 
dormitory,  recitation  rooms  and  chapel.  When  the  property 
was  bought  there  was  a  residence  on  it.  This  has  been  en- 
larged and  is  the  dormitory  for  young  ladies.  Since  the 
purchase  of  the  present  site  two  more  buildings  have  been 
added — Hay  ward  Hall  and  the  president's  mansion.  All 
these  buildings  are  of  brick.  The  property  is  valued  at 
$150,000.  The  faculty  numbers  fourteen  persons — eleven 
white  and  three  colored. 

The  purpose  of  this  institution  of  learning  at  first  was  to 
train  colored  people  in  the  rudiments  of  an  education  and  to 
fit  them  to  become  teachers  and  ministers  of  the  gospel. 


396 


THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION. 


This  purpose  lias  not  been  departed  from,  but  along  with 
that  have  developed  normal,  academic  and  collegiate  courses, 
and  a  large  number  of  students  have  been  graduated  with 
the  degree  of  B.  S.  and  A.  B.  The  courses  are  being  broad- 
ened and  strengthened  each  year.  The  Bnglish  branches 
are  being  taught  with  as  much  care  and  skill  as  formerly, 
and  the  Bible  has  the  same  place  of  importance,  but  collegi- 
ate training  and  instruction  in  music  are  receiving  increased 
emphasis.  In  addition  to  this  instruction,  special  care  is 


PRESIDENT'S  HOUSE,  ROGER  WILLIAMS   UNIVERSITY,  NASHVILLE,  TENNESSEE- 

given  to  teaching  the  young  ladies  to  improve  along  domes- 
tic lines.  To  this  end,  dressmaking  is  taught  by  a  profes- 
sional dressmaker,  and  constant  instruction  in  deportment, 
hygiene  and  general  household  economy  is  given. 

Although  this  institution  is  under  the  control  of  the  Bap- 
tist Home  Missionary  Society,  and  is,  therefore,  classed 
among  sectarian  institutions  of  learning,  the  most  liberal 
spirit  prevails,  and  nothing  is  said  or  done  to  alter  the  de- 
nominational views  of  any  student.  With  this  in  view,  it 


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THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 


has  been  the  policy  of  the  school  to  have  no  college  church, 
but  to  allow  and  urge  every  student  to  attend  a  city  church 
of  his  or  her  own  denomination. 

The  general  policy  of  the  institution  may  be  gathered 
from  the  following  extract: 

"In  supplying  educated  men  for  the  pulpits  and  trained 
teachers  for  the  public  schools,  this  institution  claims  to  be 
contributing  in  the  largest  possible  way  to  the  general  up- 


HAYWARD  HALL,  ROGER  WILLIAMS  UNIVERSITY,  NASHVILLE,  TENNESSEE. 

lifting  of  the  people;  and  in  sending  into  the  various  com- 
munities of  this  and  adjoining  States  educated  lawyers,  doc- 
tors, farmers  and  business  men,  and  into  the  homes  of  such 
communities  intelligent  and  consecrated  wives  and  mothers, 
it  claims  to  be  inspiring  in  the  young  and  the  less  fortunate 
portions  of  the  community  that  respect  for  education  and 
that  desire  to  possess  it  without  which  even  the  common 
school  cannot  be  largely  influential  or  successful." 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  399 

NATIONAL.  BAPTIST   PUBLISHING    BOARD. 

Probably  the  most  complete  publishing  plant  carried  on  and 
controlled  by  Negroes  in  the  United  States  is  the  National 
Baptist  Publishing  Board.  This  institution  was  created  by 
a  resolution  passed  by  the  National  Baptist  Convention  in 
1896.  Its  growth  has  been  phenomenal  and  has  increased 
each  succeeding  year,  as  the  following  figures  will  show:  The 
grand  total  of  periodicals  published  in  1897  was  746,500;  in 
1899,  4,695,950.  In  1897  total  orders  filled  were  5,764;  in 
1899,  22,245.  In  1897  the  total  amount  of  money  collected 
was^$5,864.29;  in  1899,  $31,683.22.  This  house  publishes 
not  only  Sunday-school  magazines  and  pamphlets,  but  car- 
ries on  regular  book  making,  such  as  Bibles,  song  books  and 
other  hard  cloth  and  morocco  bindings,  and  besides  does 
regular  book  and  job  printing. 

Seventy  skilled  laborers  are  kept  regularly  employed  in 
this  institution.  The  machinery,  appliances, etc.,  are  of  the 
best. 

The  institution  is  under  the  control  of  the  National  Bap- 
tist Convention. 

Nine  grades  of  periodicals  and  eleven  books  are  published 
regularly  as  denominational  literature  for  the  benefit  of  Bap- 
tist Sunday-schools. 

MEHARRY    MEDICAL    COLLEGE. 

The  Meharry  Medical  College  was  organized  in  1876  as 
the  medical  department  of  Central  Tennessee  College,  Nash- 
ville, Tennessee,  and  was  the  first  medical  school  opened  in 
the  Southern  States  for  the  education  of  colored  physicians. 
It  takes  its  name  from  the  generous  and  philanthropic  family 
who  so  liberally  contributed  toward  its  establishment  and 
support. 

Since  its  organization  in  1876,  several  hundred  students 
have  completed  their  medical  course  of  study  and  received 
the  degree  of  M.  D.  The  greater  portion  of  this  number 
are  now  practicing  their  profession  in  the  Southern  and 


400  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

Southwestern  States.  They  have  uniformly  been  treated 
with  kindness  and  consideration  by  the  white  physicians  of 
the  South,  who  have  consulted  with  them  in  dangerous  cases 
and  assisted  in  difficult  operations  in  surgery. 

Nearly  90  per  cent,  of  the  graduates  have  been  members 
of  some  Christian  Church,  and  over  10  per  cent,  had  re- 
ceived a  collegiate  education  before  taking  the  study  of 
medicine.  They  have  made  a  good  record  in  passing  the 
required  county,  district  and  State  examining  boards,  and 
very  few  failures  have  occurred. 

Five  of  the  alumni  have  served  on  the  United  States  pen- 
sion examining  boards.  A  large  proportion  of  the  alumni 
have  purchased  homes  of  their  own,  and  their  professional 
income  is  probably  greater  than  that  of  any  other  class  of 
colored  citizens. 

CHARLES    SPENCER    DINKINS,    D.    D. 

Charles  Spencer  Dinkins,  D.  D.,  was  born  September  15, 
1856,  at  Canton,  Mississippi.  He  was  converted  in  1868. 
In  June,  1870,  he  entered  Roger  Williams  University  at 
Nashville,  Tennessee,  graduating  therefrom  in  1877  as 
valedictorian  of  his  class.  His  pastor,  Rev.  Jordan  Williams, 
and  the  church  at  Canton  gave  him  financial  aid.  During 
his  period  of  study  he  taught  public  school  during  vacations. 
After  pursuing  a  post-graduate  course  of  one  year  at  Roger 
Williams  he  entered  Newton  Theological  Institution  in  1878, 
and  graduated  in  1881.  He  received  the  degree  of  D.  D. 
from  the  State  University  at  Louisville,  Kentucky,  in  1890. 
After  serving  as  pastor  and  teacher  in  Alabama  for  about  fif- 
teen years,  he  became  (1893)  president  of  the  Alabama  Bap- 
tist Colored  University  at  Selma 

MRS.    DAISY    MILLER    HARVEY. 

Mrs.  Harvey  was  born  in  Mississippi,  but  reared  in  Mem- 
phis, Tennessee,  where  she  attended  the  public  schools  and 
later  Le  Mayne  Institute.  In  September,  1877,  she  entered 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP. 


401 


the  Roger  Williams  University,  and  was  graduated  from  the 
normal  course  in  1879.  She  began  at  once  to  teach,  and, 
with  the  exception  of  one  year,  has  been  engaged  in  educa- 
tional work  continuously  for  the  past  nineteen  years.  In 
1885,  she  was  appointed  by  the  Women's  Baptist  Educa- 
tional Society  as  their  missionary.  She  says:  UI  traveled 
throughout  the  State  of  Kentucky  from  east  to  west  and 
from  north  to  south,  visiting  churches,  organizing  mission- 


MRS.  DAISY  MILLKR  HARVEY. 


ary  bands,  making  special  talks  to  the  young  people,  visit- 
ing the  homes,  and  helping  when  I  could  to  encourage  the 
women  to  live  pure,  clean  lives,  and  to  make  their  homes  all 
they  ought  to  be — types  of  the  heavenly  home."  In  1884, 
Mrs.  Harvey  began  a  movement  which  has  resulted  in  the 
establishment  of  the  Colored  Orphans'  and  Old  Ladies' 
Home.  Since  1896  Mrs.  Harvey  has  been  matron  in  Bishop 
College,  Marshall,  Texas. 

26 


402  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

JOHN    HOPE. 

John  Hope  was  born  in  Augusta,  Georgia,  June,  1868. 
Losing  his  father  at  the  early  age  of  eight  years  he  was  thrown 
chiefly  upon  his  own  resources.  After  leaving  the  public 
schools  of  Augusta  at  thirteen  years  of  age,  he  spent  five  or 
six  years  in  work.  After  his  conversion  at  eighteen,  in  1886, 
he  entered  the  Academy  of  Worcester,  Massachusetts,  where 
he  spent  four  years,  graduating  in  1890 — the  last  two  years 


JOHN  HOPE. 

supporting  himself  entirely  by  his  own  labor.  While  at  the 
academy  he  had  valuable  experience  as  business  manager, 
associate  editor  and  editor-in-chief  of  the  school  paper.  He 
was  the  historian  of  his  class. 

In  1890  he  entered  Brown  University,  graduating  with 
the  honor  of  class  orator  in  1894.  He  supported  himself 
while  in  college  by  doing  chores  and  by  newspaper  work, 
being  the  university  correspondent  for  the  New  York 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP. 


403 


Tribune.  After  teaching  four  years  in  Roger  Williams 
University  he  was  transferred  to  Atlanta  Baptist  College. 
Since  graduating  at  Brown  he  has  spent  two  summer  seasons 
in  post-graduate  study  in  the  University  of  Chicago. 

JOSEPH   A.   BOOKER..    D.   D. 

President  Booker  was  born  in  Ashley  county,  Arkansas, 
December  26,  1859.     His  parents  having  died  while  he  was 


JOSEPH  A.  BOOKER,  D.  D. 
President  of  Arkansas  Baptist  College. 

yet  a  child,  his  guardian  gave  him  the  opportunity  of  irreg- 
ularly attending  country  schools  for  a  number  of  years; 
after  having  spent  three  years  in  the  Normal  School  at  Pine 
Bluff,  he  entered  Roger  Williams  University  in  1881  and 
graduated  in  1886.  Having  served  as  State  missionary,  in 
association  with  Rev.  Harry  Woodsmall,  he  became,  in  1887, 
principal  of  the  Negro  school  at  Little  Rock.  He  says:  "I 
am  a  firm  believer  in  the  self-exertion  of  the  Negro,  for  it  is 


404 


THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 


to  this  end  that  he  is  being  educated.  But  I  am  just  as  firm 
a  believer  in  co-operation  between  the  Negroes  and  the  white 
people." 

MRS.    MAMA   T.    KENNEY. 

Mrs.  Mafia  Talley  Kenney  was  born  in  Shelby ville,  Ten- 
nessee. Her  parents,  though  not  "educated,"  were  indus- 
trious, ambitious  Christian  people,  who  took  the  keenest  in- 
terest in  the  education  and  general  advancement  of  their 
children.  Maria  entered  Roger  Williams  University  at  a 


MRS.  MARIA  T. 


somewhat  early  age,  and  graduated  from  the  college  depart- 
ment  in  1887.  She  taught  school  during  vacations.  When 
teaching  near  her  home  she  very  often  did  the  family  wash- 
ing and  sewing,  taught  music  and  sewed  at  night  for  friends 
to  make  "extra"  money.  While  teaching  she  boarded  with 
a  woman  who  took  in  washing,  and  Maria  ironed  evenings, 
and  thus  secured  money  enough  to  buy  all  her  clothing. 
The  money  she  received  for  teaching  went  to  make  the  first 
payment  on  the  little  farm  her  father  had  bought. 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  405 

Since  her  graduation  Mrs.  Kenneyhas  taught, in  the  pub- 
lic schools  of  Tennessee;  on  the  faculty  of  Natchez  College, 
Natchez,  Mississippi;  Roger  Williams  University,  Nash- 
ville, Tennessee;  Howe  Institute,  Memphis,  and  Arkansas 
Baptist  College,  Little  Rock,  Arkansas. 

III.     HOWARD    UNIVERSITY. 

Howard  University  was  established  at  Washington,  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia,  just  after  the  close  of  the  war,  when  the 
interest  excited  in  philanthropists  and  statesmen  by  the  abo- 
lition of  slavery  was  at  its  height. 

During  and  immediately  after  the  war  many  thousands  of 
freedmen  made  their  way  to  Washington.  Since  that  time 
the  Negro  has  composed  one-third  of  the  population  of  that 
city.  This  influx  of  Negro  population  made  it  necessary  that 
steps  be  immediately  taken  to  provide  for  the  education  of 
both  children  and  adults.  Day  schools  were  promptly  pro- 
vided by  the  aid  of  the  various  freedmen 's  organizations. 
After  this  was  done,  and  it  was  reasonably  certain  that  pri- 
mary education  would  be  provided,  thoughtful  men  began  to 
look  toward  measures  for  securing  also  a  higher  education  for 
a  portion  of  the  colored  people.  The  First  Congregational 
church  in  Washington  had  been  recently  organized,  and  on 
November  20,  1866,  Mr.  Henry  A.  Brewster,  one  of  the 
members  of  that  church,  gathered  eight  or  ten  friends  at  his 
house  to  take  steps  in  this  direction.  The  enterprise  rapidly 
took  shape,  a  board  of  trustees  was  elected,  and  on  January 
18,  1867,  the  title  of  Howard  University  was  given  to  the 
new  institution  in  honor  of  Major-General  Oliver  O.  How- 
ard, who  was  at  that  time  commissioner  of  the  Freedmen 's 
Bureau. 

Application  was  made  to  Congress  for  a  charter  under  which 
to  organize  the  university,  which  was  promptly  granted. 
This  act  of  incorporation  expressly  provided  that  the  univer- 
sity should  make  no  distinction  between  whites  and  blacks  as 
it  was  not  intended  to  make  it  a  distinctively  colored  institu- 


406 


THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 


tion.  The  university  was,  therefore,  formed  on  broad  lines, 
the  promoters  believing  that  the  idea  of  color  should  not  enter 
at  all  into  the  question  of  education. 

The  charter  did  not  contain  the  word  "Negro,"  or l  'black," 
or  "colored,"  or  "African,"  but  simply  provided  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  university  for  the  education  of  youth  in  the  lib- 
eral arts  and  sciences.  While,  however,  the  direct  intention 
was  to  make  provision  for  the  higher  education  of  the  Negro 
race,  it  was  not  intended  to  shut  out  any  race  or  color.  As 
a  matter  of  fact,  the  institution  has  had,  besides  Negro  stu- 
dents, Indians,  Chinese,  Japanese,  various  European  nation- 
alities, and  white  stu- 
dents from  both  the 
Northern  and  Southern 
States.  These  students 
have  been  found  in  all 
departments  of  the  uni- 
versity, but  especially  in 
the  medical  school. 
Among  these  there  was  a 
white  student  who  had 
carried  off  the  valedictory 
honors  at  Harvard,  and 
afterward  entered  the  theological  department  at  Howard. 
The  university  is  open  to  students  from  all  parts  of  the 
United  States  or  the  world,  and  to  all  races  of  men;  also  to 
both  sexes. 

In  religion  the  university  is  undenominational  and  no  dis- 
crimination has  been  made  in  the  interest  of  any  of  the  great 
religious  bodies.  The  men  who  first  started  the  work  were, 
for  the  most  part,  Congregationalists  and  Presbyterians,  but 
the  board  of  trustees  has  embraced  Methodists,  Baptists, 
Episcopalians  and  Unitarians,  and  all  of  these  denominations 
have  had  representatives  among  the  teachers  and  professors, 
as  have  also  the  Lutherans,  Roman  Catholics  and  the  Re- 
formed Church. 


HOWARD  UNIVERSITY. 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  407 

The  university  is  located  in  a  commanding  position  on  the 
line  of  hills  in  the  northern  part  of  the  city  of  Washington, 
overlooking  the  city  and  much  of  the,  surrounding  country, 
with  a  splendid  view  of  the  two  branches  of  the  Potomac,  as 
well  as  the  main  river.  The  site  originally  contained  one 
hundred  and  fifty  acres  of  what  was  known  as  "Effingham." 
The  purchase  price  was  $140,500  and  the  money  was  obtained 
mainly  from  the  Freedmen's  Bureau,  and  later  repaid  by  the 
university  from  the  proceeds  of  the  sales  of  land  not  needed 
for  university  purposes. 

After  the  site  had  been  selected  it  became  a  serious  ques- 
tion as  to  how  the  necessary  buildings  were  to  be  secured. 
The  founders  were  mostly  poor  men,  but  they  were  enthusi- 
astic and  had  faith  in  the  accomplishment  of  the  objects  for 
which  they  were  working.  The  way  was  opened  as  follows: 
General  Howard  as  the  head  of  the  Bureau  of  Refugees, 
Freedmen  and  Abandoned  Lands  had  disbursed  in  various 
ways  large  sums  of  money  for  the  establishment  and  mainte- 
nance of  all  grades  of  schools  throughout  the  Southern 
States,  and  had  offered  to  erect  buildings  for  a  certain  denom- 
inational colored  institution  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  on 
condition  that  it  should  become  undenominational,  but  the 
offer  was  declined.  The  trustees  of  Howard  University, 
learning  of  this  fact,  made  application,  as  an  undenomina- 
tional institution,  to  receive  this  aid.  In  this  way  there  was 
secured  something  more  than  $500,000,  which  went  princi- 
pally into  lands  and  buildings.  With  this  money  there  were 
erected,  according  to  plans  drawn  up  by  Henry  R.  Searle, 
architect,  four  large  edifices,  viz.:  the  main  University  Build- 
ing, Miner  Hall,  Clark  Hall,  and  the  Medical  College,  also 
several  houses  for  the  professors. 

For  three  or  four  years  all  seemed  to  go  well.  Grounds 
and  buildings  had  been  furnished  and  leading  philanthropists 
had  contributed  liberally  to  the  maintenance  of  the  institu- 
tion. Such  men  as  Hon.  Gerritt  Smith,  of  New  York;  John 
Taylor,  of  London  and  David  Clarke,  of  Hartford,  Connect- 

26 


408 


777/i     NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 


icut,  made  liberal  donations;  the  British  Freedmen's  Aid 
Commission  also  contributed;  and  the  generous  public,  when 
appealed  to,  responded  favorably. 

Encouraged  by  the  success  of  their  plans  the  trustees 
began  to  open  the  numerous  departments  in  rapid  succession, 
paid  high  salaries,  and  made  lavish  expenditures  in  every 


WM.  H.  H.  HART. 
Instructor  in  Agriculture,  Howard  University. 

direction.  In  the  early  seventies,  however,  it  was  found 
necessary  to  retrench,  and  the  efforts  in  this  direction'  were 
so  successful  that  while  the  expenses  in  1872  amounted  to 
$87,000,  in  1877  they  amounted  to  only  $16,000.  This  re- 
duction in  expenses  was  not  accomplished,  however,  without 
considerable  loss  to  the  institution  in  the  way  of  professors, 


7.V    HISTORY,     .1X1)    /.V    CITIZE.VSHir.  409 

students  and  prestige.  Since  1877  the  condition  of  the  insti- 
tution has  steadily  improved.  In  1879  Congress  appropri- 
ated $10,000  for  current  expenses,  and  since  that  time  an 
annual  appropriation  has  been  made,  which  has  increased  to 
more  than  double  that  for  1879.  At  the  present  time  the 
university  holds  improved  real  estate  from  which  rents  are 
derived,  and  various  unimproved  land  which  can  be  made 
to  produce  revenue.  The  present  holdings  of  the  university 
are  upwards  of  $1,000,000. 

Among  the  various  departments  of  the  university  are  the 
Normal  and  Preparatory  departments,  College  department, 
Theological  department,  Medical  department,  Law  depart- 
ment, Musical  department  and  the  Industrial  department. 
O£  these  the  Medical  department  deserves  especial  notice.  It 
has  three  divisions,  namely,  Medicine,  Pharmacy  ajid  Den- 
tistry, with  an  able  faculty  in  each.  This  department  is  al- 
ways full,  and  white  and  Negro  students  are  about  equally 
divided. 

The  Industrial  department  has  a  shop  75x40  feet  in 
which  there  is  a  Carpenter  shop,  Printing  office,  and 
Shoemaking  and  Tailoring  rooms,  and  an  Iron  and  Tin 
shop  in  the  basement.  There  are  also  sewing  rooms  for  the 
girls  in  Miner  Hall,  and  type-writing  is  taught  in  the  main 
building.  All  students  in  the  Normal  and  Preparatory  de- 
partments are  required  to.  attend,  at  certain  hours,  in  the  In- 
dustrial department  for  three  years,  and  all  other  students 
are  encouraged  to  attend.  In  this  department  the  carpenters 
work  from  plans  drawn  in  the  school,  and  the  University 
Record  is  set  up  and  printed  on  the  premises.  The  carpenter 
shop  is  equipped  with  the  most  modern  appliances,  the 
printing  office  with  a  good  outfit  of  newspaper  and  job  type 
and  one  Gordon  press.  The  tin  shop  is  also  well  fitted  with 
machinery  and  tools.  The  sewing  class  is  taught  plain  sew- 
ing both  by  hand  and  by  machine,  also  dress  cutting  and 
fitting.  There  is  a  cooking  class  and  a  book-bindery. 

The  professors  have  usually  been  white,  although  quite  a 


410  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

large  number  of  colored  instructors  Have  been  employed  from 
time  to  time.  The  first  dean  of  the  theological  department 
was  a  Negro,  and  there  is  also  a  Negro  in  the  faculty  of  that 
department  at  the  present  time.  There  are  also  Negro  in- 
structors in  the  law  and  medical  departments,  and  in  the 
college  and  normal  courses  the  majority  of  instructors  are 
colored. 

The  university  has  also  a  well-furnished  chemical  labora- 
tory, and  also  a  laboratory  for  work  in  biology,  botany  and 
every  branch  of  natural  science,  which  is  connected  with  the 
museum,  and  contains  a  valuable  mineralogical  cabinet  and 
botanical  collection. 

About  three  thousand  students  have  been  graduated  from 
the  various  departments.  While  some  of  them  have  proved 
failures,  as  could  only  be  expected,  most  of  them  have  done 
creditable  work  and  stand  high  among  their  people.  Among 
the  graduates  has  been  a  United  States  minister  to  Liberia, 
a  district  attorney  of  Norfolk,  Virginia,  and  a  member  of 
Congress. 

It  is,  of  course,  impossible  in  the  space  at  our  disposal  to 
give  a  review  of  the  work  of  the  university.  The  work  done 
has  been  in  the  direction  of  training  Negro  youths  in  the 
ways  in  which  they  most  need  training.  While  some  people 
have  contended  that  higher  education  of  the  Negro  is  a  mis- 
take, it  is  quite  evident  that  in  the  case  of  the  Negro,  as  in 
the  case  of  other  races,  the  lower  education  of  the  masses 
depends  upon  the  higher. 

The  race  needs  preachers  and  teachers — leaders  who  can 
show  them  the  way  to  better  methods  of  living  and  lead  their 
thoughts  in  the  way  of  modern  ideas,  elevate  their  ideals  and 
improve  them  morally,  intellectually  and  industrially.  The 
leaders  of  the  past  have  been  ignorant,  and  often  immoral. 
They  have  gained  a  hold  on  their  people  and  left  their  im- 
pressions upon  them;  but  in  many  cases  their  influence  has 
not  been  altogether  good.  Even  men  like  the  Rev.  John 
Jasper,  who  were  morally  above  reproach,  led  the  thoughts 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  4H 

of  those  who  followed  them  towards  the  prejudices  of  igno- 
rance rather  than  that  broad-minded  view  of  life  which  is 
the  best  thing  in  our  modern  civilization.  It  is  important 
that  these  old  leaders  should  be  replaced  by  a  new  class — 
preachers  who  practice  as  well  as  preach,  and  teachers  who 
can  instill  into  their  pupils,  not  only  the  ordinary  informa- 
tion usually  imparted  in  primary  and  grammar  schools,  but 
also  those  ideals  and  ambitions  for  a  better  life  which  the  race 
must  have  in  order  to  make  the  most  of  itself.  The  impor- 
tance of  replacing  the  old-time  leaders  with  the  new  will  be 
readily  appreciated,  and  it  has  been  the  aim  of  Howard  Uni- 
versity to  supply  such  leaders. 


J.  WESLEY  HOFFMAN. 
George' R.   Smith  College,  Sedalia,   Missouri, 


CHAPTER  XV. 

SOME   NOTABLE  EDUCATORS    OTHER  THAN  THOSE  AL- 
READY NAMED,  WITH  NOTICE  OF  THE  SCHOOLS 
WITH  WHICH  THEY  HAVE  BEEN 
CONNECTED. 

JOHN    WESLEY    HOFFMAN. 

A  MONG  the  many  colored  men  of  America  who  have  won  a 
^~*  prominent  place  in  the  field  of  science,  no  one  has 
achieved  greater  fame  than  the  subject  of  this  sketch — John 
Wesley  Hoffman,  Ph.  D.  An  honor  to  himself  and  to  his 
race,  it  is  with  special  pride  that  the  Afro- Americans  of  the 
United  States  can  point  to  him  as  one  of  their  own  race,  and 
pay  homage  to  him  in  recognition  of  the  honors  that  have  been 
given  him.  Formerly  professor  of  agriculture  in  the  State 
College  of  Florida,  he  now  occupies  the  chair  of  chemistry, 
biology  and  agriculture  in  the  Geo.  R.  Smith  College,  Se- 
dalia,  Missouri. 

His  special  work  along  the  line  of  chemistry  and  agricul- 
tural biology  has  placed  him.  in  the  very  front  rank  of  sci- 
ence, and  today  he  is  the  leading  Negro  scientist  of  the 
world. 

He  was  born  in  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  receiving  his 
early  education  in  his  native  city.  He  went  north  and  pur- 
sued his  studies  at  Howard  University,  Washington,  Dis- 
trict of  Columbia;  Michigan  Agricultural  College,  Lansing, 
Michigan  and  Albion  College,  Albion,  Michigan.  He  has  also 
pursued  special  studies  at  Harvard  University  and  Sumner  Sci- 
entific School  in  organic  chemistry;  Cornell  University  sum- 
mer course  in  biology  and  nature  study;  Marine  School  of 
Biology  at  Wood's  Hole,  Massachusetts,  in  embryology  and 
bacteriology.  -At  the  Agassiz  Scientific  Institute  at  Cottage, 

413 


414  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

Massachusetts,  a  few  years  ago,  he  attracted  the  attention  of 
the  most  noted  men  of  science  in  America  and  Europe,  by 
his  thorough  knowledge  of  the  marine  plants  known  as  the 
Algae.  He  has  made  a  special  study  of  butter  and  cheese- 
making  and  dairy  bacteriology  at  the  well-known  Ontario 
Agricultural  College  at  Ouelph',  Ontario,  Canada. 

He  has  occupied  chairs  in  some  of  the  leading  colored  col- 
leges of  the  country — State  University,  of  Louisville,  Ken- 
tucky; Tuskegee  Institute,  of  Alabama;  State  Colored  College 
of  South  Carolina,  and  Florida  State  Industrial  College.  In 
all  these  institutions  he  has  won  fame  for  himself.  As  an 
instructor,  he  imparts  his  knowledge  to  his  pupils  with 
enthusiasm  and  ease.  He  is  blessed  with  a  kind,  magnetic, 
sympathetic  and  charming  disposition,  a  most  striking  and 
pleasing  personality,  that  endears  him  to  his  pupils  and 
renders  him  a  most  admirable  companion  and  friend  and 
popular  instructor.  Quiet  and  unassuming  in  manners, 
chaste  and  cautious  in  speech,  he  at  once  becomes  much 
admired  by  all  with  whom  he  comes  in  contact.  He  is  highly 
respected  for  his  counsel,  and  is  popular  with  his  associates 
in  the  faculty. 

Since  coming  to  Geo.  R.  Smith  College,  Professor  Hoff- 
man has  awakened  a  new  and  lively  interest  in  the  depart- 
ment of  science,  has  organized  a"  scientific  club  (The  Pas- 
teur), of  which  he  is  the  president.  The  students  are  mani- 
festing a  decided  interest  in  the  department,  which  is  indeed 
gratifying  to  him,  and  is  another  proof  that  even  his  begin- 
nings are  brilliant  and  his  success  limitless.  He  is  by  no 
means  a  mere  recluse,  but  is  eminently  practical  in  his  work, 
and  uses  his  great  scientific  information  to  effect. immediate 
results  in  ameliorating  the  condition  of  his  people.  Among 
some  of  his  many  achievements  may  be  mentioned  the  fact 
that  he  was  the  first  Negro  to  introduce  the  science  of  dairy- 
ing and  the  latest  scientific  butter  making  among  his  people 
in  the  South.  He  travels  extensively,  visiting  dairy  facto- 
ries and  scientific  schools  in  the  United  States,  Canada  and 


IN    HISTORY,     AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  415 

Europe;  is  constantly  on  the  lookout  for  new  and  improved 
methods,  thus  opening  up  a  new  industry  to  the  colored 
youths  and  assisting  them  in  a  practical  way  to  better  their 
condition.  Among  the  young  people  of  the  South  he  has 
been  an  inspiration,  and  has  caused  them  to  take  a  new 
interest  in  dairying  and  agriculture. 

The  ''Hoffman  improved  seedling  strawberry"  is  the 
name  of  a  new  variety  of  strawberry  that  he  contributed  to 
the  science  of  agriculture  a  few  years  ago.  The  St.  Louis 
Journal  of  Agriculture  mentions  it  as  "one  of  the  finest  in 
the  South."  It  is  cultivated  from  New  Jersey  to  Florida 
and  on  the  Pacific  Coast. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts  Horticultural  Soci- 
ety, having  been  elected  a  member  of  that  body  in  recogni- 
tion of  the  great  work  he  is  doing  for  the  practical  scientific 
culture  of  the  Negro  race,  and  for  being  the  producer  of  the 
new  variety  of  strawberry.  He  was  appointed  by  the  United 
States  Department  of  Agriculture  to  make  a  dietary  study  of 
the  kind,  quality  and  quantity  of  food  used  by  the  Negroes  of 
the  "Black  Belt"  of  Alabama,  while  a  professor  at  Tuskegee 
Institute.  Much  scientific  labor  was  expended  in  performing 
this  arduous  task,  but  the  work  was  accomplished  in  such  a 
very  creditable  manner  that  his  investigations  were  published 
by  the  Department  of  Agriculture,  and  are  considered  invalu- 
able in  the  dietetic  study  of  the  different  races  of  the  world. 
It  is  very  gratifying  to  know  that  physiologists  have  the  use 
of  that  Depoi^,'as  it  has  been  translated  into  many  languages. 

Prof essor  THoff man  has  had  occasion  to  deliver  addresses 
before  many  scientific  societies  both  in  the  United  States  and 
Canada.  He  is  honored  by  membership  in  more  scientific 
associations  than  any  other  living  Negro.  Among  them,  in 
this  country  and  abroad,  the  following  may  be  mentioned: 
American  Society  of  Naturalists,  Boston  Society  of  Natural 
History,  Torrey  Botanical  Club  of  Columbia  University, 
New  York  City,  American  Association  for  the  Advancement 
of  Science,  Boston  Mycological  Society,  American  Geo- 


416  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

graphical  Society,  Royal  Society  of  Biology  of  Berlin,  Soci- 
ete  Roy  ale  de  Zoologique  of  Antwerp,  Fellow  of  the  Royal 
Agricultural  Society  of  England. 

He  is  a  member  of  the  New  York  Zoological  Society,  of 
which  Hon.  Levi  P.  Morton  is  president,  and  such  men  as 
Andrew  Carnegie,  Morris  K.  Jessup,  the  railroad  magnate, 
and  Hon.  Seth  Low  are  members.  He  is  also  a  member  of 
the  New  York  Botanical  Garden  at  Bronx  Park,  New  York 
City,  of  which  Hon.  J.  Pierpout  Morgan  is  the  honored 
president.  A  few  years  ago  the  presidency  of  the  Monrovia 
College,  West  Coast  of  Africa,  was  offered  to  him. 

It  is  very  evident  that  his  work  is  being  more  appreciated 
by  his  own  people,  for  continually  he  receives  many  fine  in- 
ducements to  accept  a  chair  in  the  faculty  of  the  leading  Ne- 
gro colleges  of  the  South.  He  has  chosen  the  South  for  his 
field  of  labor  because  of  the  magnificent  opportunity  to  de- 
velop the  agricultural  resources  of  that  section,  if  the  science 
of  agriculture  is  properly  taught  to  those  whose  life-work  it 
will  be  to  make  that  country  what  it  is  possible  to  make  it. 
He  comes  in  direct  touch  with  the  farmers  of  the  South,  for 
a  part  of  each  vacation  is  spent  in  holding  farmers'  insti- 
tutes in  different  parts  of  the  South,  giving  them  such  prac- 
tical and  helpful  advice  that  he  has  inspired  them  to  do  bet- 
ter work. 

Farmers'  clubs  have  been  organized;  they  subscribe  to 
agricultural  journals;  they  are  buying  their  lands,  doing 
more  extensive  and  diversified  farming,  and  they  are  putting 
forth  greater  efforts  for  their  improvement,  due  to*  his  labors. 
Appreciation  of  the  work  that  Professor  Hoffman  is  doing 
among  his  people  is  not  confined  to  his  own  race,  but  North 
and  South  he  has  been  favorably  commended  by  the  Ameri- 
can press  for  the  efforts  he  has  made  and  is  still  making  for 
the  elevation  of  his  people.  His  talks  on  practical  agri- 
culture are  published  in  the  leading  daily  papers  of  the 
South,  and  the  white  and  colored  people  alike  read  his  sound 
advice.  Among  others  in  late  years  he  has  conducted  a  very  in- 


IN    HISTORY,     AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  417 

teresting  experiment  in  Florida.  He  has  grown  at  Talla- 
hassee, Florida,  from  tea  seed  imported  from  Japan  and  In- 
dia, a  very  excellent  plant.  He  has  therefore  demonstrated 
that  tea  can  be  grown  in  the  Sonth,  and  especially  in  Florida. 

He  is  anxious  to  get  his  people  interested  in  this  new  ag- 
ricultural industry.  A  grade  of  tea  could  be  grown  in  the 
South  that  would  be  superior  in  every  way  to  the  tea  im- 
ported from  China  and  Japan,  and  a  better  price  would  be 
obtained  for  it.  He  is  anxious  to  have  every  farmer's  wife 
and  daughter  grow  a  little  plat  of  tea  in  which  event  a  small 
curing  house  could  be  established  for  drying  and  curing  the 
tea  at  some  central  point  in  each  county,  just  as  cotton  gins 
are  established  in  the  South  for  cleaning  the  cotton.  By 
this  plan  tea  growers  could  pay  the  curing  houses  so  much 
for  curing  the  tea  or  could  sell  them  the  tea  leaves  in  bulk. 

Appreciation  of  Professor  Hoffman's  great  work  will  grow 
with  the  enlightenment  of  the  race  and  with  the  growth  of 
liberal  sentiment  among  the  people  of  other  races.  He  has 
proved  himself  equal  to  the  most  exacting  demands  upon  his 
intellectual  resources,  and  has  demonstrated  that  he  is  no 
dreamer.  No  opportunity  for  advancement  will  pass  him 
unnoticed. 

The  youth  who  falters  by  the  wayside  to  complain  of  "no 
chance"  will  look  to  this  brilliant  young  scientist,  and  find 
a  light  and  an  inspiration  that  cannot  but  restore  his  courage 
and  bring  to  his  soul  the  conquering  power  of  Professor  Hoff- 
man's practical  philosophy.  The  place  that  the  professor 
occupies  in  the  educational  and  scientific  world  plainly 
proves  that  color  is  no  bar  to  success.  His  life  should  be  an 
incentive  to  every  young  Negro,  who  by  emulating  his  ex- 
ample may  lift  himself  and  his  race  to  better  things. 

J.   D.   COLE  MAN. 

J.  D.  Coleman  was  born  in  Halifax  county,  Virginia, 
April  24,  1863.  He  spent  the  first  fourteen  years  of  his  life 
upon  the  farm,  attending  school  meanwhile  for  the  period  of 

a? 


418 


THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 


seven  months.  At  twenty-one  years  of  age,  having  enjoyed 
ten  months'  schooling,  and  with  a  few  dollars  saved  from 
labor  at  $10  a  month,  he  entered  Way  land  Seminary,  and 
completed  the  normal  course.  After  teaching  in  the  public 
schools  of  Virginia  two  years,  he  was  appointed  to  his  pres- 
ent-position  as  teacher  in  Wayland  College. 

C.    S.    BROWN,    D.   D. 

C.  S.  Brown  was  born  of  slave  parents,  March  23,  1859, 
in  Salisbury,  North  Carolina.    For  a  number  of  years  he  at- 


C,  S.  BROWN,  D.  D. 

tended  the  Freedmen's  School  in  his  native  town,  but  at  six- 
teen years  of  age,  on  the  death  of  his  father,  he  was  forced 
to  work  on  the  farm  and  in  the  brick-yard  to  assist  his 
mother  in  the  support  of  the  family.  In  1880  he  entered 
Shaw  University,  completing  the  course  in  1886,  as  valedic- 
torian of  his  class. 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP. 


419 


Mr.  Brown  has  served  for  several  years  as  president  of  the 
North  Carolina  Baptist  State  Convention,  and  also  as  secre- 
tary of  the  convention;  was  the  first  general  missionary  for 
the  State  under  the  plan  of  co-operation;  has  been  president 
of  the  Lott  Carey  Foreign  Mission  Convention.  Since  1890 
he  has  been  principal  of  the  Waters  Institute  at  Winton, 
North  Carolina,  which  he  administers  with  rare  intelligence 
and  vigor. 

E  N  O  S    L.    SCRUGGS,    B.  D. 

Knos  L.  Scruggs  was  born  of  slave  parents  in  Cole  county, 
Missouri,  February  23,  1858.  His  father  became  a  soldier 


ENOS  L.  SCRUGGS,  B.  D. 


in  the  Union  army.  He  spent  his  boyhood  days  on  a  farm 
near  Jefferson  City,  attending  the  public  school  as  opportu- 
nity permitted .  At  fourteen  he  became  an  orphan ,  and  there- 
after had  to  depend  upon  his  own  efforts  for  a  livelihood. 
After  serving  as  a  porter  in  a  store  in  St.  Louis  for  five  years, 
he  entered  Lincoln  Institute  in  1880,  from  which  he  gradu- 
ated in  1885.  In  1886  he  entered  the  Theological  Depart- 


420  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

nient  of  the  University  of  Chicago,  graduating  in  1890. 
After  serving  as  pastor  of  the  Second  Baptist  Church  of  Ann 
Arbor,  Michigan,  for  twenty-eight  months,  he  became  prin- 
cipal of  the  Western  College,  at  Macon,  Missouri,  a  position 
which  he  still  occupies.  In  addition  to  his  duties  as  admin- 
istrator of  the  college,  he  is  the  chief  editor  of  the  Missouri 
Messenger 

MR.S,  RACHEL  E.  REEVES  ROBINSON. 

Mrs.  Robinson  was  born  in  Anderson,  South  Carolina, 
December  1,  1866 — one  of  nine  children.  At  the  age  of  five 
she  entered  the  public  schools  and  continued  eleven  years. 
She  entered  Benedict  College  when  sixteen  years  of  age. 
After  four  years  of  study  she  was  compelled,  for  lack  of 
means,  to  be  absent  from  school  one  year,  teaching.  In  1888 
she  returned  to  the  college,  and  graduated  in  1889.  After 
leaving  the  college  she  taught  until  her  marriage,  in 
1890,  to  Rev.  A.  R.  Robinson,  one  of  the  best  and  most 
influential  pastors  of  the  State.  For  two  years  she  and  her 
husband  taught  in  the  Piedmont  High  School  of  Greenville. 
Afterward  she  was  elected  principal  of  the  graded  school  at 
Pendleton.  •  Here  she  labored  until  1896,  when  she  and  her 
husband  returned  to  Greenville,  South  Carolina,  to  live  in 
the  beautiful  house  which  they  purchased.  She  was  at  once 
elected  president  of  the  Woman's  Missionary  Society. 

MISS    JUDITH    L.    CHAMBERS. 

Miss  Judith  L.  Chambers  was  born  March  15,  1876,  the 
fourth  child  of  James  and  Terriza  Chambers,  formerly  slaves, 
of  Spartanburg  county,  South  Carolina.  Her  childhood  was 
spent  on  a  farm,  with  but  one  or  two  months  of  country 
school  per  year  until  fifteen  years  of  age.  She  began  attend- 
ing school  when  but  four  years  of  age,  having  already  learned 
the  alphabet.  In  her  public  school  days  she  aspired  to  be  a 
poetess  and  wrote  considerable  school-girl  poetry.  She  taught 
her  first  school  when  but  fifteen.  In  1892  she  entered 
Benedict  College  and  remained  two  years,  paying  nearly  all 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP. 


421 


MRS.  RACHEL  E.  R.  ROBINSON. 


MISS  JUDITH  L.  CHAMBERS. 


her  expenses  by  work.  The  next  year  she  served  as  assist- 
ant in  a  private  colored  school  in  Spartanburg.  The  follow- 
ing year  she  served  as  clerk  in  a  store.  In  1897  she  re- 
turned to  college  and  graduated  in  1898,  working  her  way 
through  college.  Since  graduation  she  has  been  teaching  in 
the  public  schools.  She  is  a  great  power  for  good  in  church, 
school  and  society,  and  in  inciting  and  helping  others  to 
intellectual  and  moral  culture. 


JOSHUA    B.    SIMPSON. 


Joshua  B.  Simpson  was  born  July  23,  1861,  in  Washing- 
ton, Mason  county,  Kentucky.  After  preliminary  instruc- 
tion at  home  and  in  the  inferior  schools  of  his  native  village, 
he  attended  public  school  in  Maysville,  walking  more  than 
six  miles  a  day  for  that  purpose.  In  September,  1882,  he 
entered  Wayland  Seminary,  Washington,  D.  C.,  and  grad- 
uated in  May,  1886.  He  largely  supported  himself  by  labor 
during  his  period  of  study.  Applying  for  entrance  to  Colby 
College,  Waterville,  Maine,  he  received  from  the  president 


422 


THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELA'lION, 


this  encouragement:  ulf  you  have  the  three  Ps — Push, 
Pluck  and  Perseverance — you  need  not  hesitate  to  come  on 
account  of  lack  of  money."  He  entered  in  1886,  and  grad- 
uated in  1890,  supporting  himself  by  his  labor.  He  was 


JOSHUA  B.  SIMPSON. 

absent  from  but  two  recitations  during  the  four  years.  He 
thus  proved  his  possession  of  the  president's  three  Ps.  After 
pursuing  a  partial  course  in  Newton  Theological  Institution 
he  received  an  appointment  as  teacher  in  Wayland  College, 
which  he  still  holds. 

JOHN   H.  JACKSON. 

John  H.  Jackson  was  born  at  Lexington,  Kentucky,  Oc- 
tober 31,  1850;  graduated  at  Berea  College,  Kentucky,  June, 
1874;  first  colored  man  to  graduate  in  Kentucky;  was  elected 
as  delegate-at-large  to  the  Republican  National  Convention  of 
1880,  being  the  first  colored  man  so  elected  from  Kentucky; 
was  one  of  the  "306' '  who  cast  their  votes  for  thirty-six  ballots 
forU.  S.  Grant  at  Chicago;  moved  to  Kansas  in  1881;  became 
principal  of  Lincoln  High  School,  Kansas  City,  Missouri; 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  423 

also  clerk  of  the  Jury  Commission,  and  also  clerk  of  the  Po- 
lice Board  of  Kansas  City,  Kansas,  receiving  both  appoint- 
ments from  the  governor;  was  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Ex- 
aminers for  Kansas  City,  Kansas,  being  the  first  colored  man 
in  Kansas  to  be  so  honored;  was  prominently  mentioned  for 
auditor  of  State  to  succeed  Hon.  E.  P.  McCabe;  returned  to 
Kentucky  in  1887  and  took  charge  as  president  of  the  State 
Normal  School  for  Colored  Persons,  at  Frankfort,  which  po- 
sition he  held  until  1896,  when  he  was  elected  president  of 
the  Lincoln  Institute  in  Jefferson  City,  Missouri. 

He  was  the  first  man  to  raise  his  voice  against  the  separate 
coach  bill  when  it  was  known  that  it  would  be  brought  up 
in  the  Kentucky  legislature  of  1891-2-3.  This  he  did  at  a 
public  gathering  in  the  Corinthian  Baptist  Church  at  Frank- 
fort; and  thenceforth  he  was  persistent  in  his  efforts  to 
arouse  a  sentiment  that  would  defeat  the  measure.  He  was 
the  first  man  to  speak  before  the  railroad  committee,  urging 
the  passage  of  a  law  based  upon  condition  rather  than  upon 
color.  Until  very  recently  he  devoted  his  life  to  the  educa- 
tion of  his  race.  At  present  he  is  engaged  in  business  at 
Colorado  Springs,  Colorado.  Wherever  he  goes,  or  however 
occupied,  he  has  the  confidence  of  both  races  and  of  all  polit- 
ical parties  in  Kentucky. 

MRS.   HANNAH    HOWELL    R  E  D  D  I  C  K. 

Hannah  A.  Howell  was  born  in  1872,  near  Midville,  Burke 
county,  Georgia,  of  slave  parents,  the  seventh  daughter  of  a 
large  family.  Before  she  was  large  enough  to  attend  school 
her  older  sisters  taught  her  to  read.  She  attended  the  district 
school  three  months  each  year  until  twelve  years  old,  when 
she  entered  Haven  Normal  School  at  Waynesboro,  Georgia. 
In  her  fifteenth  year  she  began  teaching.  She  entered  Spel- 
man  Seminary  in  1887.  Her  parents  were  greatly  pleased 
with  her  progress,  but  were  unable  to  pay  her  expenses.  By 
teaching  and  going  to  school  alternately  she  continued  her 
studies  till  she  graduated  from  the  academic  department  in 

27 


424 


THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 


1892.  In  1894  she  returned  and  completed  the  teachers' 
professional  course,  and  was  appointed  teacher  at  Spelman 
Seminary.  In  the  same  year  she  was  appointed  by  the  State 
School  Commissioner  to  assist  in  conducting  Peabody  Insti- 


MRS.  HANNAH  HOWEXL  REDDICK. 

tute,  in  Georgia.  In  May,  1899,  she  resigned  her  position 
to  become  the  wife  of  Mr.  M.  W.  Reddick,  principal  of  the 
institute,  Americus,  Georgia.  Since  her  marriage  she  has 
been  a  member  of  the  faculty  of  that  institution. 

M.    W.    REDDICK,   A.   M. 

M.  W.  Reddick  was  born  in  Randolph  county,  Georgia, 
March  2,  1868.  The  first  twenty  years  of  his  life  were  spent 
in  the  country,  working  as  a  farm  laborer  from  eight  to  sev- 
enteen, and  then  for  four  years  he  was  engaged  in  cutting 
cross-ties  for  the  railroad.  During  these  years  he  spent,  in 
all,  about  five  months  in  school.  On  becoming  of  age,  in  1888, 
and  having  been  converted,  he  entered  the  Baptist  Seminary, 
Atlanta,  Georgia,  and  graduated  from  that  institution  in 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP. 

1897.     He  had  a  hard  struggle  to  maintain  himself  in  the 
institution.     On  graduation  he  became  principal  of  a  new 


M.  W.  REDDICK,  A.  M. 


school  called  Americus  Institute,  which  has  steadily  grown 
under  his  skillful  administration. 


JAMES    R..    L.    DIGGS. 


James  R.  L.  Diggs  was  born  in  1865,  at  Upper  Marlboro, 
Maryland,  of  Roman  Catholic  parents.  He  was  confirmed 
by  Cardinal  Gibbons  at  ten  years  of  age,  and  retained  his 
membership  in  the  Catholic  Church  for  five  years.  In  1883 
he  entered  Wayland  Seminary,  graduating  in  1886.  He  was 
converted  in  1885,  and  united  with  the  Nineteenth  Street 
Baptist  Church,  Washington,  District  of  Columbia.  After 
teaching  four  years,  1886-90,  in  the  public  schools  of  Mary- 
land, he  returned  to  Wayland  Seminary,  where  he  taught 
four  classes,  and  prepared  himself  for  college,  entering  Buck- 
nell  University  in  1894,  and  graduating  in  1898  with  the 


426  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION. 

degree  of  B.  A.     In  1899,  after  an  examination  on  a  year's 
extra  work,  he  received  from  his  Alma  Mater  the  degree  of 


JAMES  R.  I,.  DIGGS. 

M.  A.     After  graduation  he  became  a  teacher  in  Wayland 
College,  which  position  he  still  holds. 

JAMES    SHELTON    HATHAWAY. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  at  Mt.  Sterling,  Mont- 
gomery county,  Kentucky,  March  29,  1859. 

His  early  education  was  received  in  the  schools  of  that 
place.  At  the  age  of  seventeen  he  went  to  Berea  College, 
Kentucky,  where  he  remained  until  he  graduated  from  the 
classical  course  in  the  year  1884:,  receiving  the  degree  of 
Bachelor  of  Arts. 

The  day  after  his  graduation  he  was  elected  tutor  in  Latin 
and  mathematics  in  his  Alma  Mater  by  its  trustees.  Three 
years  later  he  married  Miss  Celia  Anderson,  of  Clyde,  Ohio, 
who  was  then  a  teacher  in  the  schools  of  Kentucky. 

He  remained  with  Berea  College  nine  years,  during  which 


JAMES  S.  HATHAWAY. 
President  Kentucky  State  Normal  and  Industrial    School,  Frankfort,   Kentucky. 


428  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

time  lie  received  the  honorary  degree  of  Master  of  Arts;  and 
when  in  1893  he  resigned,  to  accept  a  professorship  at  the 
Kentucky  State  Normal  School,  the  faculty  notified  him  that 
they  had  appointed  a  committee  to. express  to  him  in  fitting 
terms  their  appreciation  of  him  and  of  his  work  in  that  college. 

For  four  years  he  served  as  professor  in  the  State  Normal 
School,  when,  failing  of  a  re-election,  he  accepted  the  prin- 
cipalship  of  the  Maysville  High  School.  After  a  service  in 
this  capacity  of  nearly  three  years  he  was  called  to  the  pres- 
idency of  the  Kentucky  State  Normal  School,  where  he  had 
previously  labored. 

As  president  of  the  institution  his  administration  is  marked 
by  energy  and  development.  Although  only  in  the  second 
year  of  his  administration,  the  driveways  have  been  put  in 
good  condition;  the  buildings  have  been  remodeled  and  im- 
proved; the  course  of  study  broadened;  new  industries  added; 
attendance  largely  increased;  additional  grounds  and  build- 
ings have  been  purchased  and  the  legislature  has  been  in- 
duced to  increase  the  State's  annual  appropriation  by 
$5,000,  besides  giving  $15,000  for  a  new  dormitory  for  girls. 
His  administration  has  been  highly  satisfactory  and  the  fol- 
lowing editorial  mention  from  a  newspaper  which  knows 
whereof  it  speaks  will  sufficiently  indicate  the  satisfactory 
manner  in  which  he  has  presided  over  the  institution  pro- 
vided by  the  commonwealth  of  Kentucky  for  the  education 
of  its  colored  citizens: 

"The  re-election  of  Prof.  James  S.  Hathaway  as  president 
of  the  State  Normal  School,  by  its  board  of  trustees,  meets 
with  general  and  hearty  approval.  It  is  a  merited  compli- 
ment to  this  able  educator.  It  is  an  emphatic  endorsement 
of  his  worth  and  work  during  the  school  year  now  rapidly 
approaching  its  close.  The  enrollment  of  the  school  at  the 
present  time  is  far  in  excess  of  that  of  any  previous  year  of 
its  existence,  being  nearly,  if  not  quite,  two  hundred.  The 
work  of  the  present  year  has  been  of  a  high  standard,  and 
such  as  to  give  general  satisfaction  to  both  students  and 


IN   HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP. 


429 


patrons.  President  Hath  away 's  administration  of  affairs 
has  been  up  to  date,  efficient,  praiseworthy,  above  and  beyond 
criticism. 

"We  congratulate  President  Hathaway  on  his  re-election, 
the  board  on  its  good  judgment,  and  the  school  on  its  good 
fortune." 

MISS    M^ARY    KIMBLE. 

Miss  Mary  Kimble  was  born  in  Austin,  Texas,  1876. 
Her  parents  had  been  slaves  and  lived  in  Austin  at  the  time 
of  their  emancipation.  Mary  attended  the  Austin  public 
schools.  She  graduated  from  the  normal  course  in  Bishop 


MISS  MARY  KIMBLE. 
Assistant  Principal  at  Houston. 


College,  at  Marshall,  Texas,  1894.  She  has  taught  school 
several  years  since  graduation,  and  is  at  present  teacher  of 
mathematics  in  Houston  Academy.  She  is  first  assistant 
to  the  principal  of  the  academy.  She  has  the  reputation  of 
being  an  earnest  student,  a  successful  teacher  and  a  faithful 
Christian  worker. 


430  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

CHARLES    L.    PVRCE,    D.    D. 

Charles  L.  Puree,  D.  D.,  was  born  July  4, 1856,  in  Charles- 
ton, South  Carolina.  He  received  his  early  education  in 
private  and  public  schools  of  his  native  city.  After  a  course 
of  study  at  Benedict  College,  Columbia,  South  Carolina,  he 
entered  the  Richmond  Theological  Seminary,  whence  he 
graduated  with  honor  in  1883.  After  graduation  he  pursued 
a  correspondence  course  in  Greek  and  Hebrew  under  Doctor 
Harper,  of  the  University  of  Chicago.  After  serving  as 


CHARLES  I,.   PURCE,  D    D.  • 

President  of  State  University,  Louisville,  Kentucky. 

pastor  for  one  year  of  a  church  of  eleven  hundred  members, 
at  Society  Hill,  South  Carolina,  he  became  (1884)  teacher 
of  Latin  and  Greek  in  Selma  University.  From  1886  to 
1893  he  served  as  president  of  the  institution.  He  received 
from  Shaw  University  the  degree  of  A.  B.,  and  from  the 
State  University  at  Louisville,  of  which  he  is  now  president, 
the  degree  of  D.  D.  During  his  seventeen  years  of  service 
as  teacher,  he  has  instructed  about  five  thousand  different 
students. 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  431 

ECKSTEIN    NORTON    UNIVERSITY. 

The  Courier- T ournal  ®i  May  18,  1902,  noticed  the  above- 
named  institution  as  follows: 

"  Kentucky  has  not  been  behind  other  Southern  States  in 
noble  efforts  to  give  colored  students  the  benefit  of  a  most 
thorough  industrial  training  One  notable  example  of  this 
is  in  the  well-known  Berea  College,  where  colored  and  white 
students  are  equally  welcome  and  where  both  sexes  have 
equal  chances. 

4 'There  is,  however,  an  institution  for  the  aid  of  colored 
youth  by  industrial  training  much  nearer  Louisville,  and 
one  which  deserves  the  heartiest  encouragement  and  interest 
of  all  well-wishers  of  the  colored  race.  This  institution  is 
located  at  Cane  Spring,  Bullitt  county,  Kentucky,  only 
twenty-nine  miles  from  Louisville  and  on  the  line  of  the 
Louisville  and  Nashville  railroad.  It  is  ambitiously  called 
the  Eckstein  Norton  University,  and  its  history  shows  that 
indomitable  pluck  and  never-failing  courage  have  been  be- 
hind it  thus  far. 

"Eleven  years  ago  a  great  industrial  school  for  the  colored 
race  was  proposed  by  the  Rev.  William  J.  Simmons  and 
the  Rev.  C.  H.  Parrish,  who  is  now  the  president  of  the 
university.  The  plans  were  feasible  and  practical,  but  these 
men  had  no  money  with  which  to  carry  out  their  plans. 
They  applied  to  Messrs.  Eckstein  Norton  and  Milton  H. 
Smith  for  aid,  and  were  cordially  received  by  them.  These 
gentlemen  said  that  they  had  long  desired  to  do  something 
for  the  education  of  the  colored  people,  and  were  ready  to 
act.  A  few  days  later  $3,050  was  deposited  in  the  Fidelity 
Trust  and  Safety  Vault  Company  for  the  construction  of  a 
main  building.  This  splendid  gift  enabled  Dr.  Simmons  and 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Parrish  to  open  the  doors  of  the  school  in 
October,  1890. 

"The  most  unique  railway  station  building  between  Bards- 
town  Junction  and  Springfield  was  built  at  Cane  Spring,  the 
site  of  the  university. 


432  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION. 

"In  January,  1892,  the  main  building  was  destroyed  by 
fire.  Appeals  through  the  daily  papers  and  through  Mr. 
Smith  resulted  in  a  sum  of  $1,700.  Another  start  was  made, 
and,  in  the  years  since,  upwards  of  1200  students  from  six- 
teen States  and  foreign  countries  have  received  instruction. 
One  hundred  and  thirty-one  have  graduated  from  the  differ- 
ent departments,  the  majority  of  whom  are  doing  creditable 
work  among  the  people. 

"The  main  building  is  a  substantial  brick  structure  with 
twenty-five  rooms.  There  are  also  five  frame  buildings  with 
twenty  rooms  for  dormitories  and  assembly  halls,  the  print- 
ing office,  laundry  and  blacksmith  shop.  The  accommoda- 
tions are  not  adequate  to  the  demands  upon  them. 

"The  principle  of  the  school  is  that  all  must  work.  Stu- 
dents must  do  as  well  as  know.  It  is  designed  to  give  here 
a  Christian  education,  a  trade  and  college  advantages  to 
those  who  show  any  special  fitness  for  the  highest  training. 
Classes  are  conducted  in  laundry  work,  cooking,  sewing, 
shoemaking,  farming,  carpentering,  waiting  on  table,  print- 
ing and  blacksmithing. 

"The  school  is  undenominational,  and  is,  of  course,  with- 
out denominational  aid.  Nor  does  it  have  State  or  general 
government  assistance,  but  is  simply  a  brave  effort  depend- 
ent entirely  upon  voluntary  aid.  Here  is,  indeed,  an  en- 
deavor to  better  the  condition  of  the  Negro  race  along  lines 
which,  in  the  case  of  Tuskegee  and  other  similar  institu- 
tions, are  receiving  substantial  support  and  much  praise 
from  Northern  philanthropists." 

EDWARD    L.    BLACKSHEAR,    B.    A. 

Edward  L,.  Blackshear  is  a  native  of  the  State  of  Alabama. 
He  was  born  in  Montgomery,  September  28,  1862,  of  slave 
parents.  His  father,  Abram  Blackshear,  and  his  mother, 
Adeline  Pollard,  instilled  into  their  son  at  an  early  age  the 
principles  of  honesty,  perseverance  and  self-reliance,  which 
have  developed  into  the  now  useful  and  honorable  educator 


REV.  C,  H.  PARRISH. 
President  Eckstein   Norton  University. 


434 


THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION. 


of  his  people.  He  is  one  of  the  leading  characters  in  shap- 
ing the  destiny  of  the  Negro  race  in  the  Lone  Star  State,  and 
directing  them  to  a  higher  life  of  usefulness  and  prosperity. 

Professor  Blackshearwas  one  of  a  large  family  of  children, 
of  whom  only  three  reached  maturity  and  are  still  living; 
one  graduated  in  medicine  and  pharmacy,  and  is  now  in  the 
government  employ  at  Washington;  another  graduated  at 
Roger  Williams  University,  is  an  ordained  Baptist  minister 
and  teacher  of  theology  at  Guadalupe  College,  Seguin, 

Texas » 

The  education  of  the  sub- 
ject of  this  sketch  was  be- 
gun in  the  common  school, 
where  he  made  rapid  pro- 
gress and  won  distinction 
in  all  his  classes,  until  he 
completed  all  the  curriculum 
of  Swayne's  College  of  his 
native  city.  It  was  now 
manifest  that  he  was  a  boy 
of  unusual  intellect,  and  a 
Northern  man  became  inter- 
ested in  him  and  made  it 
possible  for  him  to  enter  a 
college  in  Iowa,  where  he 
completed  with  credit  a  class- 
ical course,  and  received  the 
degree  of  B.  A.  in  June, 
1881.  While  here,  being 
surrounded  by  the  Christian 
influences  of  the  home  of  the  professor  (McPherron),  he 
became  a  Christian,  and  began — to  use  his  own  words — uto 
realize  the  possibilities  of  Christian  manhood." 

Later  he  returned  to  the  old  home  in  Alabama,  and  entered 
upon  a  life  of  active  usefulness  to  his  own  people  of  the 
South.  From  Alabama  he  came  to  Texas  in  1882,  located 


EDWARD  I,.  BLACKSHEAR. 

President  Prairie  View,  Texas,  State  Normal  aiid 
Industrial  College. 


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436  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION. 

first  in  Ellis  and  then  in  Bastrop  county,  in  both  of  which 
counties  he  taught  school. 

In  a  competitive  examination  at  Austin  he  made  the  high- 
est average,  and  was  elected  principal  of  one  of  the  city 
schools  (colored),  from  which  he  was  promoted  several  times 
without  his  solicitation.  He  taught  school  in  Austin  for 
thirteen  years,  where  his  faithful  and  effective  service  gained 
for  him  the  confidence  and  esteem  of  the  leading  educators 
of  the  State  to  such  an  extent  that  he  was  appointed  to  the 
principalship  of  the  Prairie  View  State  Normal  Institute, 
where  his  present  occupancy  is  the  very  best  evidence  of  his 
executive  ability  and  pre-eminent  worth  as  an  educator. 

He  has  a  true  and  noble  wife,  who  has  contributed  largely 
to  the  unprecedented  usefulness  of  her  husband  and  shared 
his  honors. 

B.    F.    ALLEN,    A.    B.,    A.    M. 

Prof.  B.  F.  Allen,  vice-president  of  the  Lincoln  Insti- 
tute, was  born  in  Savannah,  Georgia,  and  received  his  early 
education  in  the  public  schools  of  his  native  city.  He  com- 
pleted the  course  of  study  at  the  University  of  Atlanta,  grad- 
uating with  high  honors.  In  languages  he  became  very  pro- 
ficient, and  served  as  a  student  teacher — an  honor  much 
envied.  He  was  afterward  elected  principal  of  the  Monticello 
High  School,  which  position  he  filled  most  creditably,  and 
later  as  principal  of  RisleyHigh  School  of  Brunswick,  Geor- 
gia. Soon  afterward  he  was  elected  principal  of  the  Florida 
Baptist  College  at  Jacksonville,  Florida,  but  before  accepting 
the  offer  he  was  notified  of  his  election  to  the  chair  of  natural 
and  physical  .science  in  the  State  University  at  Louisville, 
Kentucky.  While  both  these  were  under  consideration  he 
received  a  telegram  from  Prof.  I.E.  Page,  president  of  Lin- 
coln Institute,  asking  him  to  accept  the  chair  of  Latin  and 
Greek  in  that  school,  which  he  accepted,  with  little  time  to 
notify  the  other  institutions  of  his  inability  to  accept  their 
offers,  and  has  filled  the  position  with  honor  to  the  institu- 
tion. He  is  professor  of  modern  languages,  history  and 


B.  F.  ALLEN, 
Vice-President  Lincoln  Institute. 


438  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

pedagogy,  and  has  been  prominently  connected  with  all 
movements  of  the  work  for  the  past  five  years,  and  specially 
interested  in  the  collegiate  department,  which  department 
he  has  done  more  to  build  up  than  any  one  else  connected 
with  the  school. 

Few  men  so  young  have  been  so  useful  in  life  and  can 
accomplish  so  much  with  apparent  ease.  He  is  a  fearless 
speaker,  a  born  teacher,  and  those  who  have  been  under  his 
instructions  say  they  cannot  fail  to  get  the  essence  of  the 
subject  he  is  teaching.  He  has  a  reading  knowledge  of  four 
of  the  modern  languages,  which,  together  with  his  well- 
stored  mind,  makes  his  work  especially  advantageous  to  the 
students  under  his  instruction.  Very  few  men  of  the  Negro 
race  have  been  so  favored  by  nature  or  enjoyed  such  educa- 
tional advantages  as  he. 

W.   H.   COUNCIL!,. 

The  Normal  and  Industrial  School  at  Normal,  Alabama, 
is  one  of  the  South 's  great  schools  for  the  education  of  the 
Negro.  Not  that  its  endowment  fund  has  been  sufficient  to 
develop  it  into  a  much-embracing,  well-appointed  university , 
but  that  under  the  presidency  of  Professor  Councill  it  has 
been  doing  admirable  work,  and  has  won  the  confidence  and 
the  warm,  good  wishes  of  all  thoughtful  white  people,  who 
insist  that  the  young  people  of  the  former  slave  race  must 
be  not  merely  educated  but  rightly  educated.  If,  as  one  has 
affirmed,  the  process  of  true  education  is  "nine  parts  inspira- 
tion, one  part  drill,"  the  Normal  is  peculiarly  fortunate  in  its 
presiding  officer.  Occupying  a  high  plane  of  thought  and 
aspiration,  and  having  just  views  of  the  relation  of  the  races 
and  of  the  Negro's  power  to  achieve,  his  example,  his  daily 
walk  and  conversation,  and  his  public  addresses  awaken 
laudable  ambition,  arouse  to  exertion  and  lead  in  the  direc- 
tion of  all  that  is  best  in  the  life  of  any  race. 

Instead  of  a  labored  sketch  of  his  life  and  works  we  can 
give  the  reader  a  just  and  sufficient  view  of  him  by  present- 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN .  CITIZENSHIP.  439 

ing  in  brief  what  some  have  said  of  him,  what  he  says  of 
himself,  and  what  he  urges  in  vindication  of  his  people's 
claim  to  the  generous  consideration  of  mankind. 

Referring  in  one  of  his  speeches  to  his  origin  and  his  early 
life,  he  said:  "I  came  through  the  Richmond  slave-pen  to 
this  platform.  I  do  not  regret  the  hard  struggles  of  my  life 
and  the  bitter  experiences  necessary  to  my  growth,  for,  after 
all,  adversity  tests  and  develops  man.  Let  all  who  toil  and 
struggle  take  heart  and  labor  on.  Let  us  be  concerned  about 
only -one  thing — that  is,  how  to  be  a  useful  and  helpful  man 
in  the  world." 

Ben  P.  Hunt,  of  Huntsville,  Alabama,  wrote  of  him: 
"Councill  came  up  from  slavery,  and  his  history  is  as  thrill- 
ing and  interesting  as  the  Arabian  Nights.  .  .  .  He 
has  traveled  much  and  received  many  large  honors,  but  his 
heart  is  still  true  to  the  South  and  devoted  to  his  white  peo- 
ple. He  has  never  on  either  side  of  the  Ohio,  or  on  either 
side  of  the  ocean,  said  one  unkind  word  about  the  South. 
He  has  had  the  courage  and  the  manhood  to  defend 
the  white  people  of  the  South  at  home  and  abroad,  before 
foes  as  well  as  friends.  He  seems  to  have  bent  all  his  ener- 
gies in  the  South  to  establish  peace  and  good-will  among  the 
races,  and  to  have  all  the  outside  world  recognize  the  mutual 
helpfulness  between  the  races  in  the  South.  He  has  held 
up  these  ideas  everywhere.  .  .  .  He  has  also  claimed 
that  the  Negro  got  more  out  of  slavery  than  the  white  man 
did.  .  .  .  He  never  presents  his  work  to  an  audience 
except  in  an  incidental  way;  but  Normal  has  quietly  and 
steadily  grown  from  one  teacher,  one  school-room  cabin  and 
nineteen  local  pupils,  to  two  hundred  acres  of  land,  a  score 
of  buildings  (some  stately  and  spacious),  forty  teachers,  five 
hundred  students,  more  than  a  score  of  well-equipped  indus- 
tries, sending  out  trained  teachers,  domestics  and  mechanics 
to  fifteen  States  of  the  Union,  to  Africa  and  to  the  West 
Indies.  .  .  .  The  young  people  from  this  school  are  a 

28 


440  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION. 

credit  to  the  country.     They  are  polite  and  competent.    The 
domestics  from  Normal  honor  any  home." 

The  Clarinda  (Iowa)  Herald,  noticing  Councill's  speech 
before  the  Chautauqua  there,  in  1891,  said:  "His  speech  was 
a  clean,  dispassionate  statement  of  conditions,  and  an  earnest, 
eloquent  plea  for  sympathy,  not  charity;  for  justice,  not 
assistance;  for  equality  before  the  law,. not  social  recognition. 
He  asks  only  that  his  race  be  given  a  chance  to  prove  itself; 
he  petitions  that  his  race  be  set  free  from  the  shackles  of 
prejudice  and  discrimination  that  bind  its  development  in 
tighter  and  more  galling  chains  than  ever  fettered  the  limbs 
of  a  slave;  he  pleads  that  the  lash  of  ignorant  censure,  which 
is  more  brutal  than  was  the  whip  of  the  overseer,  may  be 
suspended  till  the  actual  facts  as  to  his  race  are  known." 

In  a  speech  before  the  Southern  Industrial  Association  at 
Huiitsville,  Alabama,  October  12,  1899,  he  said:  "The 
Negro  is  true  to  his  trust.  Has  he  ever  deceived  you?  As 
badly  as  he  wanted  freedom  he  would  today  be  in  slavery 
had  his  freedom  depended  on  his  betraying  your  confidence 
in  those  dark  days  when  you  could  not  protect  your  wives  and 
children.  That  Negro  character  is  still  here.  Cultivate  it." 

We  close  the  sketch  with  the  eloquent  peroration  of  his 
address  before  the  Carlisle  Indian  School: 

"It  is  said  we  have  no  history.  Take  Egypt  from  us,  if 
you  please.  We  give  up  Hannibal.  We  will  not  remember 
noble  Attucks.  Wipe  from  history's  page  great  Toussaint 
L'Ouverture  and  grand  Douglass,  and  still  the  Negro  has 
done  enough  in  the  last  forty  years  to  give  him  creditable 
standing  in  the  society  of  races,  and  to  place  his  name  in 
letters  of  gold  across  the  azure  blue  above.  Although  we 
may  be  considered  the  baby-race  in  civilization,  we  have  an- 
swered every  test  which  your  highest  civilization  has  applied. 
In  science,  in  art,  in  literature,  your  best  critics  give  us 
good  standing.  In  invention  your  own  records  give  us 
credit.  In  music  and  song  you  say  we  lead  the  world.  In 
oratory  you  place  us  with  your  best.  In  industrial  walks  we 


PROF.  W.  H.  COUNCILL 
President  Slate  Normal  and  Industrial  School,  Normal,  Alabama 


442  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

have  piled  up  a  billion  dollars  for  ourselves  and  billions  for 
you  in  thirty-nine  years.  In  the  military  your  government 
records  place  us  first.  In  Christian  fervor  and  generosity 
we  have  taught  the  world  lessons  of  self-denial,  patience  and 
love  transcendently  beautiful  and  glorious.  And  it  doth  not 
yet  appear  what  we  shall  be.  We  will  light  up  our  wonder- 
ful imagination  and  emotion  by  the  lamp  of  culture,  turn 
our  imagination  into  mechanical  and  philosophical  invention, 
turn  our  deep  emotion  into  music  and  poetry,  turn  our  con- 
stant stream  of  feeling  into  painting  and  sculptuary.  We 
will  send  wonder  and  amazement  through  the  scientific  and 
literary  world.  There  are  more  inventions  to  be  thought 
out,  higher  classes  of  forces  yet  undiscovered  to  be  harnessed 
to  appliances;  more  worlds  to  be  discovered  and  dissected — 
more  of  God  to  be  brought  down  to  man.  If  the  Negro  is 
true  to  himself  he  may  be  God's  instrument  to  bring  it  all 
about.  God  does  not  pay  large  prices  for  small  things. 
Four  millions  of  men  did  not  meet  forty  years  ago  upon  the 
battlefield,  bankrupt  the  nation  and  redden  the  earth  with 
their  blood  for  nothing.  God  is  helping  the  Negro  to  rise  in 
the  world." 

WILLIAM    S.    SCARBOROUGH. 

William  S.  Scarborough,  now  vice-president  of  Wilberforce 
University  (Wilberforce,  Ohio)  and  professor  of  Greek  and 
Latin  in  the  same,  was  born  in  Macon,  Georgia,  February 
16,  1852.  He  received  his  early  education  in  his  native  city 
before  and  during  the  war.  In  1869  he  entered  Atlanta  Uni- 
versity, where  he  remained  two  years  in  preparation  for  Yale 
University,  but  instead  entered  Oberlin  College,  Oberlin, 
Ohio,  in  1871,  and  was  graduated  from  the  department  of 
Philosophy  and  the  Arts  with  the  degree  of  A.  B.  in  1875. 
He  spent  a  part  of  the  following  year  in  Oberlin  Theological 
vSeminary  in  special  study  of  the  Semitic  languages  and 
Hellenistic  Greek. 

In  1877  Professor  Scarborough  was  elected  as  head  of  the 
Classical  Department  in  Wilberforce  University.  In  1881 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  443 

he  published,  through  A.  S.  Barnes  &  Co.,  a  Greek  text- 
book— "First  Lessons  in  Greek" — the  first  and  only  Greek 
book  ever  written  by  a  Negro.  This  book  was  widely  used 
in  both  the  white  and  colored  schools  of  the  country,  especially 
in  the  North.  Professor  Scarborough  has  also  written  a 
treatise  entitled,  "The  Birds  of  Aristophanes:  a  Theory  of 
Interpretation,"  besides  numerous  tracts  and  pamphlets, 
covering  a  variety  of  subjects — classical,  archaeological,  soci- 
ological and  racial.  He  has  written  many  papers  for  the 
various  societies  to  which  he  belongs.  In  1891  he  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  chair  of  Hellenistic  Greek  in  Payne  Theological 
Seminary,  Wilberforce,  Ohio.  He  has  been  one  of  the  editors 
of  the  A.  M.  H.  Sunday-school  publications  since  1893,  and 
its  exegetical  editor  since  1895.  He  again  accepted  the  chair 
of  Greek  and  Latin  in  1896,  and  still  holds  this  position. 

Professor  Scarborough  is  a  member  of  various  associations: 
American  Philological,  American  Dialect,  American  Social 
Science,  Archaeological  Institute  of  America,  American  Spell- 
ing Reform,  American  Folk-Lore,  American  Modern  Lan- 
guage, American  Negro  Academy,  of  which  he  is  first  vice- 
president,  American  Academy  of  Political  and  Social  Science 
and  the  Egyptian  Exploration  Fund. 

Aside  from  the  degrees  of  A.  B.  and  A.  M.  received  from. 
Oberlin,  his  Alina  Mater,  he  has  also  been  honored  with  those 
of  LL.  D.  and  Ph.  D.  He  has  written  many  papers  for  the 
societies  to  which  he  belongs,  and  is  also  a  frequent  contrib- 
utor to  the  magazines  and  periodicals  of  the  day.  He  has 
several  times  been  chosen  one  of  the  orators  of  the  Lincoln 
League  Banquet  of  the  State  of  Ohio.  At  a  conference  of 
the  leaders  of  the  race  held  in  the  city  of  Columbus,  Ohio, 
he  was  elected  president  of  the  Afro- American  State  League, 
designed  to  further  the  interests  of  the  Negro  throughout  the 
country.  As  a  delegate  to  the  Methodist  Ecumenical  Con- 
ference he  met  that  body  in  London,  England,  September, 
1901.  He  has  traveled  extensively  on  the  continent  of 
Europe  and  in  Great  Britain. 


444  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

H.    E.    A  R.  CHER. 

Prof.  H.  B.  Archer  is  a  young  colored  man  who  has 
worked  his  way  up  in  the  world,  and  has  succeeded  through 
perseverance  and  study,  having  worked  his  way  through 

Olivet  College,  Olivet,  Michi- 
gan, and  took  the  degree  of  B.  S. 
with  honors.  He  later  took  post- 
graduate work  at  his  Alma  Mater 
and  received  the  degree  of  M.  S. 
Not  satisfied,  he  then  took  a 
special  course  at  the  University 
of  Chicago. 

He  is  one  of  the  promising 
young  Negroes  in  the  scientific 
field,  and  is  to  be  praised  espe- 
cially because  so  few  of  the  race 
enter  this  field. 

He  is  in  charge  of  the  science 
H  K  ARCHER  department  at   the   A.    and   M. 

College,  Normal,  Alabama,  and 
assistant  to  the  principal  of  the  school. 

Though  not  noticed  at  length  elsewhere  in  this  volume,  the 
following  men  and  women  are  distinguished  in  their  several 
departments  of  educational  work: 

One  of  the  best  known  of  those  men  of  the  race  who  stand 
prominently  at  the  head  of  State  educational,  institutions  is 
Richard  R.  Wright,  president  of  the  State  Normal  College, 
at  College,  Georgia. 

Miss  Anna  Jones,  a  graduate  of  the  University  of  Michi- 
gan ,  is  a  brilliant  linguist  and  a  successful  teacher  in  the 
Kansas  City  High  School  for  colored  persons. 

Miss  Sarah  A.  Blocker  is  principal  of  the  Normal  Depart- 
ment of  Florida  Baptist  College,  Jacksonville,  Florida. 

Miss  Lulu  Love  is  a  prominent  teacher  of  physical  culture 
in  the  public  schools  of  Washington,  District  of  Columbia. 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  445 

Mary  C.  Jackson  is  assistant  principal  in  Haines'  Normal 
and  Industrial  School  in  Augusta,  Georgia. 

Mrs.  Henrietta  M.  Archer  is  principal  of  the  Department 
of  Latin  and  Music  in  the  Agricultural  and  Mechanical  Col- 
lege at  Normal,  Alabama,  and  is  connected  with  the  National 
Colored  Woman's  Association. 

Mrs.  John  R.  Francis  is  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Trus- 
tees of  Public  Schools,  Washington,  District  of  Columbia. 

Mrs.  Haydee  Campbell  is  kindergarten  directress  in  St. 
Louis,  Missouri. 

Miss  Helen  Abbott  is  a  noted  kindergarten  teacher  in  St. 
Louis,  Missouri. 

Mrs.  Anna  J.  Cooper,  author  of  "The  Voice  from  the 
South,"  is  a  teacher  of  Latin  in  Washington  High  School. 

Mrs.  Booker  T.  Washington  is,  of  course,  closely  identified 
with  her  husband  in  his  great  work. 

William  H.  Mayo  is  distinguished  for  long  and  continuous 
service  as  principal  of  a  city  school  for  colored  persons, 
which,  of  course,  implies  character,  scholarship,  execu- 
tive ability  and  efficiency.  He  has  had  charge  of  the 
Frankfort  (Kentucky)  public  school  twenty  years,  and 
has  been  elected  for  the  twenty-first  time.  In  1885  he 
was  chairman  of  the  State  convention  of  colored  persons 
to  discuss  educational  needs  and  to  memorialize  the  legis- 
lature to  provide  for  the  present  State  Normal  and  Industrial 
School.  After  the  passage  of  the  act  to  establish  this,  he 
was  chairman  of  a  delegation  of  colored  citizens  who  peti- 
tioned the  city  council  to  donate  such  a  site  for  the  institution 
as  would  insure  its  location  at  Frankfort — in  which  they  were 
successful.  He  and  Professor  Jackson  (alluded  to  elsewhere) 
were  the  first  men  in  the  State  to  agitate  the  question  of  a 
training  school  for  colored  teachers. 


S.  W.  BENNETT.  REV.  N.  B.  STERRETT,  D.  D.  W.  J.  PARKER. 


THOS.  J.  JACKSON. 


DR.  THOS.  E.  MIIXER. 


REV.  J.  I,.  DART. 


W.  D.  CRUM,  M.  D. 


E.  A.  LAWRENCE. 


EXECUTIVE  OFFICERS  OF  THE  NEGRO  DEPARTMENT  OF  SOUTH 

CAROLINA  INTERSTATE  AND  WEST  INDIAN    EXPOSITION, 

CHARLESTON,  SOUTH  CAROLINA,   1901-1902. 

[NOTE. — Booker  T.  Washington  was  also  a  member  of  the  Board,  but  his  portrait  appears 
elsewhere  in  this  book.] 


CHAPTER  XVI. 
MISCELLANEOUS  MATTERS. 

I.  BOOKER  T.  WASHINGTON  ON  THE  NEGRO  AND  HIS 
ECONOMIC  VALUE. 

J  HAVE  had  letters  from  the  Sandwich  Islands,  Cuba  and 
South  America,  all  asking  that  the  American  Negro  be 
induced  to  go  to  those  places  as  laborers.  In  each  case  there 
would  seem  to  be  abundant  labor  already  in  the  places  named. 
It  is  there,  but  it  seems  not  to  be  of  the  quality  and  value 
of  that  of  the  Negro  in  the  United  States. 

These  letters  have  led  me  to  think  a  good  deal  about  the 
Negro  as  an  industrial  factor  in  our  country. 

To  begin  with,  we  must  bear  in  mind  that  when  the  first 
twenty  slaves  were  landed  at  Jamestown,  Virginia,  in  1619, 
it  was  this  economic  value  which  caused  them  to  be  brought 
to  this  country.  At  the  same  time  that  these  slaves  were 
being  brought  to  the  shores  of  Virginia  from  their  native  land, 
Africa,  the  woods  of  Virginia  were  swarming  with  thousands  of 
another  dark-skinned  race.  The  question  naturally  arises: 
Why  did  the  importers  of  Negro  slaves  go  to  the  trouble  and 
expense  to  go  thousands  of  miles  for  a  dark-skinned  people 
to  hew  wood  and  draw  water  for  the  whites,  when  they  had 
right  about  them  a  people  of  another  race  who  could  have 
answered  this  purpose?  The  answer  is,  that  the  Indian  was 
tried  and  found  wanting  in  the  commercial  qualities  which 
the  Negro  seemed  to  possess.  The  Indian  would  not  submit 
to  slavery  as  a  race,  and  in  those  instances  where  he  was 
tried  as  a  slave,  his  labor  was  not  profitable  and  he  was  found 
unable  to  stand  the  physical  strain  of  slavery.  As  slaves 
the  Indians  died  in  large  numbers.  This  was  true  in  San 
Domingo  and  in  other  parts  of  the  American  continent. 

447 


448  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION. 

The  two  races,  the  Indian  and  the  Negro,  have  been  often 
compared,  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  Negro.  It  has  been 
more  than  once  stated  that  the  Indian  proved  himself  the 
superior  race  in  not  submitting  to  slavery.  We  shall  see 
about  this.  In  this  respect  it  may  be  that  the  Indian  secured 
a  temporary  advantage  in  so  far  as  race  feeling  or  prejudice 
is  concerned;  I  mean  by  this  that  he  escaped  the  badge  of 
servitude  which  has  fastened  itself  upon  the  Negro,  and  not 
only  upon  the  Negro  in  America,  for  the  known  commercial 
value  of  the  Negro  has  made  him  a  subject  of  traffic  in  other 
portions  of  the  globe  during  many  centuries.  Even  to  this 
day  portions  of  Africa  continue  to  be  the  stamping-ground  of 
the  slave-trader. 

The  Indian  refused  to  submit  to  bondage  and  to  learn  the 
white  man's  ways.  The  result  is  that  the  greater  portion 
of  the  American  Indians  have  disappeared,  and  the  greater 
portion  of  those  who  remain  are  not  civilized. 

The  Negro,  wiser  and  more  enduring  than  the  Indian, 
patiently  endured  slavery;  and  the  contact  with  the  white 
man  has  given  the  Negro  in  America  a  civilization  vastly 
superior  to  that  of  the  Indian. 

The  Indian  and  the  Negro  met  on  the  American  continent 
for  the  first  time  at  Jamestown,  in  1619.  Both  were  in  the 
darkest  barbarism.  There  were  twenty  Negroes  and  thou- 
sands of  Indians.  At  the  present  time  there  are  between 
nine  and  ten  millions  of  Negroes  and  fifty-eight  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  six  Indians.  Not  only  has  the  Indian 
decreased  in  numbers,  but  he  is  an  annual  tax  upon  the 
government  for  food  and  clothing  to  the  extent  of  $12,784,676 
(1899),  to  say  nothing  of  the  large  amount  that  is  annually 
spent  in  policing  him.  The  one  in  this  case  not  only  de- 
creased in  numbers  and  failed  to  add  anything  to  the  eco- 
nomic value  of  his  country,  but  has  actually  proven  a  charge 
upon  the  State. 

Let  us  see  how  it  is  with  the  other.  For  a  long  time  our 
national  laws  bearing  upon  immigration  have  been  framed 


J.  B.  PARKER. 
The  Colored  Man  Who  Captured  Czolgosz,  the  Assassin  of  President  McKinley. 


450 

so  as  to  prevent  the  influx  into  this  country  of  any  classes 
or  races  that  might  prove  a  burden  upon  the  tax-payers,  be- 
cause of  their  poverty  and  inability  to  sustain  themselves,  as 
well  as  their  low  standard  of  life  which  would  enable  them  to 
underbid  the  American  laborer.  The  effect  has  been,  then, 
to  keep  out  certain  races  and  classes.  For  two  centuries  and 
more  it  was  the  policy  of  the  United  States  to  bring  in  the 
Negro  at  great  cost.  All  others  who  have  come  to  this 
country  have  paid  their  own  passage.  The  Negro  was  of 
such  tremendous  economic  value  that  his  passage  was  paid 
for  him.  Not  only  was  his  passage  paid,  but  agents  were 
sent  to  force  him  to  come.  This  country  had  two  hundred 
and  fifty  years  in  which  to  judge  of  the  economic  value  of  the 
black  man,  and  the  verdict  at  the  end  was  that  he  was  con- 
stantly increasing  in  value,  especially  in  the  southern  part 
of  the  United  States. 

Would  any  individuals,  or  a  country,  have  gone  to  the 
expense  during  so  many  years  to  import  a  race  of  people  that 
had  no  economic  value? 

The  Negro  seems  to  be  about  the  only  race  that  has  been 
able  to  look  the  white  man  in  the  face  during  the  long  period 
of  years  and  live — not  only  live,  but  multiply.  The  Negro 
has  not  only  done  this,  but  he  has  had  the  good  sense  to  get 
something  from  the  white  man  at  every  point  he  has  touched 
him;  something  that  has  made  him  a  stronger  and  a  better 
race. 

As  compared  with  the  Malay  race,  the  Negro  has  proven 
his  superiority  as  an  economic  factor  in  civilization.  Take 
for  example  the  Malays  in  the  Sandwich  Islands.  Before 
the  Sandwich  Islanders  came  into  contact  with  the  white  race, 
they  had  a  civilization  that  was  about  equal  to  that  of  the 
twenty  Negroes  who  came  to  Jamestown  in  1619.  Since 
their  contact  with  the  white  man  they  have  constantly  de- 
creased in  numbers,  and  have  so  utterly  failed  to  prove  of 
economic  value  that  practically  the  industries  of  the  islands 
are  now  kept  in  motion  by  other  races,  and  a  strong  effort 


IN   HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  451 

has  recently  been  made  to  induce  a  large  number  of  black 
Americans  to  go  to  these  islands  as  laborers. 

The  industries  that  gave  the  South  its  power,  prominence 
and  wealth  prior  to  the  Civil  War,  were  mainly  cotton,  sugar- 
cane, rice  and  tobacco.  Before  the  way  could  be  prepared  for 
the  proper  growing  and  marketing  of  these  crops,  forests  had 
to  be  cleared,  houses  built  and  public  roads  and  railroads 
constructed.  In  all  of  this  no  one  will  deny  that  the  Negro 
was  the  chief  dependence. 

The  Negro  was  not  only  valuable  as  a  common  workman, 
but  reached  a  degree  of  skill  and  intelligence  in  mechanics 
that  added  a  large  per  cent,  to  his  money  value.  Indeed, 
many  of  the  most  complicated  structures  of  the  South  today 
stand  as  monuments  to  the  skill  and  ability  of  the  Negro  me- 
chanic of  ante-bellum  days. 

In  the  planting,  cultivation  and  marketing  of  the  cotton, 
rice,  sugar-cane  and  tobacco,  the  black  man  was  about  the 
sole  dependence,  especially  in  the  lower  tier  of  the  Southern 
States.  In  the  manufacture  of  tobacco,  he  became  a  skilled 
and  proficient  workman,  and  at  the  present  time,  in*  the 
South,  holds  the  lead  in  this  respect  in  the  large  tobacco 
manufactories. 

Not  only  did  the  black  American  prove  his  worth  in  the 
way  of  skilled  and  common  labor,  but  there  were  thousands 
of  Negroes  who  demonstrated  that  they  possessed  executive 
ability  of  a  high  order.  Many  of  the  large  plantations  had 
Negro  overseers,  to  whom  the  whole  financial  interests  of 
the  masters  were  very  largely  intrusted.  To  be  able  to  plan 
months  ahead  for  planting  and  harvesting  of  the  crop,  to 
reckon  upon  the  influence  of  weather  conditions,  and  to  map 
out  profitable  work  for  scores  of  men,  women  and  children, 
required  an  executive  ability  of  no  mean  order.  In  very  few 
instances  did  the  black  manager  prove  false  to  his  trust. 

Without  the  part  which  the  Negro  played  in  the  physical 
development  of  the  South,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  it  would  be  as 
undeveloped  as  much  of  the  territory  in  the  Far  West. 


452  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION. 

The  most  valuable  testimony  that  I  have  seen  upon  the 
subject  that  this,  article  covers  is  from  the  pen  of  Prof. 
N.  S.  Shaler,  dean  of  the  Scientific  School  of  Harvard 
University.  My  readers,  I  am  sure,  will  forgive  me  for 
using  a  rather  long  quotation  from  Professor  Shaler's 
article.  I  do  it  for  the  reason  that  Professor  Shaler  is  not 
only  a  recognized  scientist,  but  for  the  further  reason  that  he 
is  a  Southern  man  and  has  had  abundant  opportunity  to  se- 
cure valuable  testimony.  Professor  Shaler  says: 

"The  Negroes  who  came  to  North  America  had  to  undergo 
as  complete  a  transition  as  ever  fell  to  the  lot  of  man,  with- 
out the  least  chance  to  undergo  an  acclimatizing  process. 
They  were  brought  from  the  hottest  part  of  the  earth  to  the 
region  where  the  winter's  cold  is  of  almost  arctic  severity; 
from  an  exceedingly  humid  to  a  very  dry  air.  They  came 
to  service  under  alien  taskmasters,  strange  to  them  in  speech 
and  in  purpose.  They  had  to  betake  themselves  to  unaccus- 
tomed food  and  to  clothing  such  as  they  had  never  worn 
before.  Rarely  could  one  of  the.  creatures  find  about  him  a 
familiar  face,  or  friend,  parent,  or  child,  or  an  object  that  re- 
called his  past  life  to  him.  It  was  an  appalling  change. 
Only  those  who  know  how  the  Negro  cleaves  to  all  the  dear, 
familiar  things  of  life,  how  fond  he  is  of  warmth  and  friend- 
liness, can  conceive  the  physical  and  mental  shock  that  this 
introduction  to  new  conditions  meant  to  him.  To  people  of 
our  own  race  it  would  have  meant  death.  But  these  wonder- 
ful folk  appear  to  have  withstood  the  trials  of  their  deporta- 
tion in  a  marvelous  way.  They  showed  no  peculiar  liability 
for  disease.  Their  longevity  or  period  of  usefulness  was  not 
diminished,  or  their  fecundity  obviously  impaired.  So  far  as 
I  have  been  able  to  learn,  nostalgia  was  not  a  source  of  mor- 
tality, as  it  would  have  been  with  any  Aryan  population. 
The  price  they  brought  in  the  market,  and  the  satisfaction 
of  their  purchasers  with  their  qualities,  show  that  they  were 
from  the  first  almost  ideal  laborers. 

"If  we  compare  the  Algonquin  Indian,  in  appearance  a 


A.  M.  CUSTIS,  A.  M.,  M.  D. 
Surgeon-in-Chief  Freedmen's  Hospital. 


454  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

sturdy  fellow,  with  these  Negroes,  we  see  of  what  stuff  the 
blacks  are  made.  A  touch  of  housework  and  of  honest  toil 
took  the  breath  of  the  aborigines  away,  but  these  tropical  ex- 
otics fell  to  their  tasks  and  trials  far  better  than  the  men  of 

our  own  kind  could  have  done Moreover,  the 

production  of  good  tobacco  requires  much  care,  which  extends 
over  about  a  year  from  the  time  the  seed  is  planted.  Some 
parts  of  the  work  demand  a  measure  of  judgment  such  as  in- 
telligent Negroes  readily  acquire.  They  are,  indeed,  better 
fitted  for  the  task  than  white  men,  for  they  are  commonly 
more  interested  in  their  task  than  whites  of  the  laboring 
class.  The  result  was  that  before  the  period  of  the  Revolu- 
tionary War  slavery  was  firmly  established  in  the  tobacco 
planting  colonies  of  Maryland,  Virginia  and  North  Carolina; 
it  was  already  the  foundation  of  their  only  considerable  in- 
dustry  This  industry  (cotton),  even  more 

than  that  of  raising  tobacco,  called  for  abundant  labor,  which 
could  be  absolutely  commanded  and  severely  tasked  in  the 
season  of  extreme  heat.  For  this  work  the  Negro  proved 
to  be  the  only  fit  man,  for  while  the  whites  can  do  this  work, 
they  prefer  other  employment.  Thus  it  came  about  that  the 
power  of  slavery  in  the  country  became  rooted  in  its  soil. 
The  facts  show  that,  based  on  an  ample  foundation  of  expe- 
rience, the  judgment  of  the  Southern  people  was  to  the  effect 
that  this  creature  of  the  tropics  was  a  better  laborer  in  their 
fields  than  the  men  of  their  own  race. 

"Much  has  been  said  about  the  dislike  of  the  white  man 
for  work  in  association  with  Negroes.  The  failure  of  the 
whites  to  have  a  larger  share  in  the  agriculture  of  the  South 
has  been  attributed  to  this  cause.  This  seems  to  be  clearly 
an  error.  The  dislike  to  the  association  of  races  in  labor  is, 
in  the  slave-holding  States,  less  than  in  the  North.  There 
can  be  no  question  that  if  the  Southern  folk  could  have  made 
white  laborers  profitable,  they  would  have  preferred  to  employ 
them,  for  the  reason  that  they  would  have  required  less  fixed 
capital  for  their  operation.  The  fact  was  and  is  that  the 


fN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  455 

Negro  is  there  a  better  laboring  man  in  the  field  than  the 
white.  Under  the  conditions  he  is  more  enduring,  more  con- 
tented and  more  trustworthy  than  the  men  of  our  own  race." 

So  much  for  the  Negro  as  a  financial  factor  in  American  life 
before  the  Civil  War.  What  about  his  value  as  a  free  man? 

There  were  not  a  few  who  predicted  that  as  soon  as  the 
Negro  became  a  free  man  he  would  not  only  cease  to  support 
himself  and  others,  but  he  would  become  a  tax  upon  the 
community. 

Few  people  in  any  part  of  our  country  have  ever  seen  a 
black  hand  reached  out  from  a  street  corner  asking  for  char- 
ity. In  our  Northern  communities  a  large  amount  of  money 
is  spent  by  individuals  and  municipalities  in  caring  for  the 
sick,  the  poor,  and  other  classes  of  unfortunates.  In  the 
South,  with  very  few  exceptions,  the  Negro  takes  care  of 
himself  and  of  the  unfortunate  members  of  his  race.  This 
is  usually  done  by  a  combination  of  individual  members  of 
the  race,  or  through  the  churches  or  fraternal  organizations. 
Not  only  is  this  true,  but  I  want  to  make  a  story  illustrate 
the  condition  that  prevails  in  some  parts  of  the  South.  The 
white  people  in  a  certain  " Black  Belt"  county  in  the  South 
had  been  holding  a  convention,  the  object  of  which  was  to  en- 
courage white  people  to  emigrate  into  the  county.  After  the 
adjournment  of  the  convention,  an  old  colored  man  met  the 
president  of  the  meeting  on  the  street  and  asked  the  object  of 
the  convention.  When  told,  the  old  colored  man  replied: 
"  'Fore  God,  boss,  don't  you  know  that  we  Niggers  got  just 
as  many  white  people  now  in  this  county  as  we  can  support?  " 

The  fact  is  often  referred  to  that  the  Negro  pays  a  very 
small  proportion  of  the  taxes  that  support  his  own  schools. 
As  to  whether  or  not  this  is  true  depends  a  good  deal  on  the 
theory  of  political  economy  that  we  follow.  Some  of  the 
highest  authorities  on  political  economy  contend  that  it  is  the 
man  who  rents  the  house  that  pays  the  taxes  on  it,  rather 
than  the  man  who  simply  holds  the  title  to  it.  Certain  it  is 
that  without  the  Negro  to  produce  the  raw  material  in  the 

29 


456  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION. 

South,  from  which  a  large  proportion  of  taxes  are  paid,  there 
would  not  be  a  very  large  tax  paid  by  any  one. 

Reliable  statistics  concerning  the  economic  progress  of  the 
Negro  are  difficult  to  obtain,  owing  to  the  fact  that  few 
of  the  States  keep  a  record  separating  the  property  owned  by 
Negroes  from  that  owned  by  white  people.  The  State  of 
Virginia  and  one  or  two  other  Southern  States  do  keep  such 
a  record.  Taking  the  matter  of  taxes  as  a  basis  for  indicat- 
ing the  Negro's  value,  Professor  J.  W.  Cromwell,  of  Wash- 
ington, District  of  Columbia,  gave  the  following  statistics 
bearing  upon  the  colored  people  of  the  State  of  Virginia,  at 
a  recent  conference  at  the  Hampton  Institute: 

"The  colored  people  contributed  in  1898  directly  to  the 
expenses  of  the  State  government  the  sum  of  $9,576.76,  and 
for  schools  $3,239.41,  from  their  personal  property,  a  total 
of  $12,816.17;  while  from  their  real  estate  for  the  purposes 
of  the  commonwealth  there  was  paid  by  them  $34,303.53, 
and  for  schools  $11,357.22,  or  a  total  of  $45,760.75;  a  grand 
total  of  $58,576.92. 

"The  report  for  the  same  year  shows  them  to  own  978,118 
acres  of  land,  valued  at  $3,800,459,  improved  by  buildings 
valued  at  $2,056,490,  a  total  of  $5,856,949.  In  the  towns 
and  cities  they  own  lots  assessed  at  $2,154,331,  improved  by 
buildings  valued  at  $3,400,636,  a  total  of  $5, 554, 967  for  town 
property,  and  a  grand  total  of  $11,411,916  of  their  property 
of  all  kinds  in  the  commonwealth.  A  comparative  statement 
for  different  years  would  doubtless  show  a  general  upward 
tendency. 

"The  counties  of  Accomac,  Essex,  King  and  Queen,  Mid- 
dlesex, Mathews,  Northampton,  Northumberland,  Richmond, 
Westmoreland,  Gloucester,  Princess  Anne  and  Lancaster,  all 
agricultural,  show  an  aggregate  of  114,197  acres  held  by  Ne- 
groes in  1897,  the  last  year  accounted  for  in  official  reports, 
against  108,824  acres  held  the  previous  year,  an  increase  of 
5,379,  or  nearly  five  per  cent.  The  total  valuation  of  lands 
owned  by  Negroes  in  the  same  counties  for  1897  is  $547,800, 


W.  F.  POWELL. 
Minister  to   Hayti. 


458  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

against  $496,385  for  the  year  next  preceding,  a  gain  of 
$51 , 150 ,  or  more  than  ten  per  cent .  Their  personal  property , 
as  assessed  in  1897,  was  $517,560;  in  1896,  $527,688,  a  loss 
of  $10,128.  Combining  the  real  and  personal  property  for 
1897,  we  have  $1,409,059,  against  $1,320,504  for  1896,  a  net 
gain  of  $88,555,  an  increase  of  six  and  a  half  per  cent." 

The  greatest  excitement  and  anxiety  has  been  recently 
created  among  the  white  people  in  two  counties  of  Georgia, 
because  of  the  fact  that  a  large  proportion  of  the  colored 
people  decided  to  leave.  No  stone  has  been  left  unturned  to 
induce  the  colored  people  to  remain  in  the  counties  and  pre- 
vent financial  ruin  to  many  white  farmers. 

Any  one  who  has  followed  the  testimony  given  recently 
before  the  United  States  Industrial  Commission,  will  see  that 
several  white  men  from  the  South  have  stated,  in  the  most 
emphatic  language,  that  the  Negro  is  the  best  laborer  that 
the  South  has  ever  had,  and  is  the  best  that  the  South  is 
likely  to  get  in  the  future.  Not  the  least  part  of  the  Negro's 
worth  at  the  present  time  (and  this  is  going  to  be  more  appar- 
ent in  the  future  than  now)  is  that  he  presents  a  conservative, 
reliable  factor  in  relation  to  "strikes"  and  "lockouts."  The 
Negro  is  not  given  to  "strikes."  His  policy  is  to  leave  each 
individual  free  to  work  when,  where  and  for  whom  he  pleases. 

The  cotton  crop  of  the  South  has  increased  many  fold  since 
the  beginning  of  freedom.  Of  course  the  Negro  is  not  the 
only  labor  element  to  be  considered  in  the  production  of  cot- 
ton, but  all  will  agree  that  the  black  man  is  the  chief  depend- 
ence in  this  country  for  that  purpose.  In  order  to  be  more 
specific,  I  give  some  figures  that  will  indicate  the  difference 
between  the  number  of  bales  of  cotton  produced  by  slave  and 
free  labor: 

SLAVE  LABOR.  FREE  LABOR. 

YEAR.  BALES.  YEAR.  BALES. 

1845 2,394,503  1890 8,652,597 

1850 2,233,781  1899 8,900,000 


IN    HISTORY,     AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  459 

While  there  are  several  factors,  among  them  increase  in 
population,  entering  into  these  figures,  still  I  think  they 
show  clearly  that  freedom  has  not  destroyed  the  economic 
value  of  the  Negro. 

What  I  have  thus  far  stated  relates  mainly  to  the  common 
Negro  laborer  before  and  since  the  war.  But  what  about  the 
educated  Negro? 

Reference  is  often  made  to  the  large  proportion  of  criminal 
and  idle  colored  men  in  the  large  cities.  I  admit  that  this 
class  is  much  larger  than  it  should  be,  and  in  some  cities  it 
is  beginning  to  present  a  rather  serious  problem.  Two 
things,  however,  should  be  kept  in  mind  when  considering 
the  younger  generation  of  colored  people:  First,  that  the 
transition  from  slavery  to  freedom  was  a  tremendous  one; 
that  the  Negro's  idea  of  freedom  for  generations  had  been 
that  it  meant  freedom  from  restraint  and  work;  that  the 
Negro  mother  and  father  had  little  opportunity  during 
slavery  to  learn  how  to  train  children;  and  that  family 
life  was  practically  unknown  to  the  Negro  until  about  thirty 
years  ago.  Secondly,  the  figures  relating  to  criminality 
among  all  races  in  all  countries  show  that  it  is  the  younger 
people,  those  between  the  ages  of  sixteen  and  thirty-five,  that 
are  given  to  crime  and  idleness. 

Notwithstanding  these  facts,  I  want  to  present  some  testi- 
mony showing  that  the  young,  educated  Negro  is  not  failing 
to  prove  his  worth. 

Some  time  ago  I  sent  letters  to  about  four  hundred  white 
men,  scattered  throughout  the  Southern  states,  in  which 
these  three  questions  were  asked: 

1.  Has  education  made  the  Negro  a  more  useful  citizen? 

2.  Has  it  made  him  more  economical  and  more  inclined 
to  acquire  wealth? 

3.  Has  it  made  him  a  more  valuable  workman,  especially 
where  thought  and  skill  are  required? 

Answers  came  from  three  hundred  of  my  correspondents, 
and  nine-tenths  of  them  answered  the  three  questions  ein- 


400  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATON. 

phatically  in  the  affirmative.  A  few  expressed  doubts,  but 
only  one  answered  the  questions  with  an  unmodified  "No." 

In  each  case  I  was  careful  to  ask  my  correspondents  to 
base  their  replies  upon  the  conditions  existing  in  their  own 
neighborhood. 

The  Negro  is  branching  out  into  nearly  all  lines  of  busi- 
ness. For  an  illustration  of  this  remark  the  reader  is  referred 
to  Chapter  VII,  of  this  work,  where  he  will  find  the  results 
of  the  inquiries  as  to  many  cities. 

From  all  the  foregoing  facts  I  think  we  may  safely  find 
ground  for  the  greatest  hopefulness,  not  only  for  the  Negro 
himself,  but  for  the  white  man  in  his  treatment  of  the  Negro. 
In  the  South,  especially,  the  prosperity  of  the  one  race  en- 
riches the  other. 

The  greatest  thing  that  can  be  done  for  the  Negro  at  the 
present  time  is  to  make  him  the  most  useful  and  indispensable 
man  in  his  community.  This  can  be  done  by  thorough 
education  of  the  hand,  head  and  heart,  and  especially  by  con- 
stantly distilling  into  every  fiber  of  his  being  the  thought 
that  labor  is  ennobling  and  that  idleness  is  a  disgrace. 

II.  ADDRESS  OP  BOOKER  T.  WASHINGTON  ON  RECEIVING  THE 

HONORARY  DEGREE  OF  MASTER  OE  ARTS 

FROM  HARVARD  UNIVERSITY. 

This  speech  was  made  at  the  alumni  dinner  of  the  uni- 
versity. Respecting  the  conferring  of  the  degree  by  this 
eminent  institution,  Thomas  J.  Galloway  wrote,  in  the  Wash- 
ington Colored  American,  as  follows: 

''First  in  the  history  of  America,  a  leading  American 
university  confers  an  honorary  degree  upon  a  colored  man. 
Harvard  has  been  always  to  the  front  in  ideas  of  liberty,  free- 
dom and  political  equality.  When  other  colleges  of  the 
North  were  accepting  the  Negro  as  a  tolerance,  Harvard  had 
been  awarding  him  honors,  as  in  the  case  of  Clement  G. 
Morgan  of  recent  date.  Her  present  action,  therefore,  in 
placing  an  honorary  crown  upon  the  worthy  head  of  Mr. 


GEO.  W.  WILLIAMS. 
The  Colored  Historian. 


402  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

Washington,  is  but  a  step  further  in  her  magnanimity  in 
recognizing  merit  under  whatever  color  of  skin. 

"The  mere  announcement  of  this  event  is  a  great  testi- 
mony to  the  standing  of  Mr.  Washington,  but  to  any  black 
person  who,  as  I  did,  saw  and  heard  the  enthusiasm  and  ap- 
plause with  which  the  audience  cheered  the  announcement 
by  President  Eliot,  the  degree  itself  was  insignificant.  The 
Boston  Lancers  had  conducted  Governor  Wolcott  to  Cam- 
bridge, and  five  hundred  Harvard  graduates  had  double  filed 
the  march  to  Sander's  Theater.  It  was  a  great  day.  Latin 
orations,  disquisitions,  dissertations  and  essays  in  English 
were  delivered  by  selected  graduates,  clad  in  stately  and  classic 
cap  and  gown.  Bishops,  generals,  commodores,  statesmen, 
authors,  poets,  explorers,  millionaires  and  noted  men  of  every 
calling  sat  as  earnest  listeners.  President  Bliot  had  issued  five 
hundred  diplomas  by  handing  them  to  the  representatives  of 
the  graduates  in  bundles  of  twenty  to  twenty-five.  Then 
came  the  awarding  of  honorary  degrees.  Thirteen  were  is- 
sued. Bishop  Vincent  and  General  Nelson  A.  Miles,  com- 
mander of  the  United  States  Army,  being  among  the  recipi- 
ents. When  the  name  of  Booker  T.  Washington  was  called, 
and  he  arose  to  acknowledge  and  accept,  there  was  such 
an  outburst  of  applause  as  greeted  no  other  name,  except  that 
of  the  popular  soldier  patriot,  General  Miles.  The  applause 
was  not  studied  and  stiff,  sympathetic  and  condoling;  it  was 
enthusiasm  and  admiration.  Every  part  of  the  audience  from 
pit  to  gallery  joined  in,  and  a  glow  covered  the  cheeks  of 
those  around  me,  proving  that  it  proceeded  from  sincere  ap- 
preciation of  the  rising  struggle  of  an  ex-slave  and  the 
work  he  has  accomplished  for  his  race. 

"But  the  event  of  the  day  was  the  alumni  dinner,  when 
speeches  formed  the  most  enjoyable  bill  of  fare.  Two  hun- 
dred Harvard  alumni  and  their  invited  guests  partook  of 
their  annual  dinner.  Four  or  five  speeches  were  made, 
among  them  one  from  Mr.  Washington. 

"At  the  close  of  the  speaking,  notwithstanding  Senator 


IN    HISTORY,     AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP. 

Henry  Cabot  Lodge,  Dr.  Minot  J.  Savage  and  others  had 
spoken,  President  Eliot  warmly  grasped  Mr.  Washington  by 
the  hand,  and  told  him  that  his  was  the  best  speech  of  the 
day. 

f'Anent  the  conferring  of  the  degree  and  the  toasts,  the 
papers  have  been  unnsual  in  favorable  comment.  Says  the 
Boston  Post: 

"  'In  conferring  the  honorary  degree  of  master  of  arts  upon 
the  principal  of  Tuskegee  Institute,  Harvard  University  has 
honored  itself,  as  well  as  the  object  of  this  distinction.  The 
work  which  Prof.  Booker  T.  Washington  has  accomplished 
for  the  education,  good  citizenship  and  popular  enlighten- 
ment in  his  chosen  field  of  labor  in  the  South,  entitles  him 
to  rank  with  our  national  benefactors.  The  university  which 
can  claim  him  on  its  list  of  sons,  whether  in  regular  course 
or  honoris  causa,  may  be  proud. 

"  'It  has  been  mentioned  that  Mr.  Washington  is  the  first 
of  his  race  to  receive  an  honorary  degree  from  a  New  Eng- 
land university.  This,  in  itself,  is  a  distinction.  But  the 
degree  was  not  conferred  because  Mr.  Washington  is  a  col- 
ored man,  or  because  he  was  born  in  slavery,  but  because  he 
has  shown,  by  his  work  for  the  elevation  of  the  people  of  the 
'Black  Belt'  of  the  South,  a  genius  and  a  broad  humanity 
which  count  for  greatness  in  any  man,  whether  his  skin  be 
white  or  black.' 

'  'The  Boston  Globe  adds:  'It  is  Harvard,  which,  first  among 
New  England  colleges,  confers  an  honorary  degree  upon  a 
black  man.  No  one  who  has  followed  the  history  of  Tuskegee 
and  its  work,  can  fail  to  admire  the  courage,  persistence  and 
splendid  common  sense  of  Booker  T.  Washington.  Well 
may  Harvard  honor  the  ex-slave,  the  value  of  whose  services, 
alike  to  his  race  and  country,  only  the  future  can  esti- 
mate.' 

"The  correspondent  of  the  New  York  Times  kindly  re- 
marks: 'All  the  speeches  were  enthusiastically  received,  but 
the  colored  man  carried  off  the  oratorical  honors  and  the 


464  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION. 

applause  which  broke  out  when  he  had  finished  was  vocifer- 
ous and  long-continued.' 

"Most  of  the  papers  have  printed  his  portrait,  and  con- 
gratulations have  come  from  every  source. 

"The  grandest  feature  of  the  whole  thing  is  that  the  fame 
and  honor  that  are  coming  thus  to  Mr.  Washington  do  not 
spoil  him.  Twelve  months  in  the  year,  night  and  day,  he 
works  for  Tuskegee — his  heart  and  love.  No  vacation,  no 
rest;  his  life  is  one  unceasing  struggle  for  his  school.  This 
is  the  secret  of  his  power.  Here  is  the  lesson  to  be  learned." 

MR.  WASHINGTON'S  ADDRESS. 

Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen : 

"It  would  in  some  measure  relieve  my  embarrassment  if  I 
could,  even  in  a  slight  degree,  feel  myself  worthy  of  the 
great  honor  which  you  do  me  today.  Why  you  have 
called  me  from  the  'Black  Belt'  of  the  South,  from  among  my 
humble  people,  to  share  in  the  honors  of  this  occasion,  is  not 
for  me  to  explain;  and  yet  it  may  not  be  inappropriate  for 
me  to  suggest  that  it  seems  to  me  that  one  of  the  most  vital 
questions  that  touch  our  American  life  is  how  to  bring  the 
strong,  wealthy  and  learned  into  helpful  touch  with  the 
poorest,  most  ignorant  and  humble  and  at  the  same  time 
make  the  one  appreciate  the  vitalizing,  strengthening  influ- 
ence of  the  other.  How  shall  we  make  the  mansions  on  yon 
Beacon  street  feel  and  see  the  need  of  the  spirits  in  the  low- 
liest cabin  in  Alabama  cotton  fields  or  Louisiana  sugar  bot- 
toms? This  problem  Harvard  University  is  solving,  not  by 
bringing  itself  down,  but  by  bringing  the  masses  up. 

"If  through  me,  an  humble  representative,  seven  millions 
of  my  people  in  the  South  might  be  permitted  to  send  a 
message  to  Harvard — Harvard  that  offered  up  on  death's 
altar  young  Shaw,  and  Russell,  and  Lowell  and  scores  of 
others,  that  we  might  have  a  free  and  united  country,  that 
message  would  be:  'Tell  them  that  the  sacrifice  was  not  in 
vain.  Tell  them  that  by  the  way  of  the  shop,  the  field,  the 


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466  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

skilled  hand,  habits  of  thrift  and  economy,  by  way  of  indus- 
trial school  and  college,  we  are  corning.  We  are  crawling 
up,  working  up — yea,  bursting  up;  often  through  op- 
pression, unjust  discrimination  and  prejudice,  but  through 
them  all  we  are  coming  up;  and  with  proper  habits,  intelli- 
gence and  property  there  is  no  power  on  earth  that  can  per- 
manently stay  our  progress.' 

"If  my  life  in  the  past  has  meant  anything  in  the  lifting 
up  of  my  people  and  the  bringing  about  of  better  relations 
between  your  race  and  mine,  I  assure  you  from  this  day  it 
will  mean  doubly  more.  In  the  economy  of  God  there  is  but 
one  standard  by  which  an  individual  can  succeed — there  is 
but  one  for  a  race.  This  country  demands  that  every  race 
measure  itself  by  the  American  standard.  By  it  a  race  must 
rise  or  fall,  succeed  or  fail;  and  in  the  last  analysis  mere 
sentiment  counts  for  little.  During  the  next  half  century 
and  more  my  race  must  continue  passing  through  the  severe 
American  crucible.  We  are  to  be  tested  in  our  patience,  our 
forbearance,  our  perseverance,  our  power  to  endure  wrong, 
to  withstand  temptations,  to  economize,  to  acquire  and  use 
skill;  our  ability  to  compete,  to  succeed  in  commerce,  to 
disregard  the  superficial  for  the  real,  the  appearance  for  the 
substance,  to  be  great  and  yet  small,  learned  and  yet  simple, 
high  and  yet  the  servant  of  all.  This,  this  is  the  passport 
to  all  that  is  best  in  the  life  of  our  republic,  and  the  Negro 
must  possess  it  or  be  debarred. 

"While  we  are  thus  being  tested,  I  beg  of  you  to  remember 
that  wherever  our  life  touches  yours,  we  help  or  hinder; 
wherever  your  life  touches  ours,  you  make  us  stronger  or 
weaker.  No  member  of  your  race  in  any  part  of  our  country 
can  harm  the  meanest  member  of  mine  without  the  proudest 
and  bluest  blood  in  Massachusetts  being  degraded.  When 
Mississippi  commits  crime,  New  England  commits  crime, 
and  in  so  much  lowers  the  standard  of  your  civilization. 
There  is  no  escape.  Man  drags  man  down  or  man  lifts 
man  up. 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  45? 

"In  working  out  our  destiny,  while  the  main  burden  and 
center  of  activity  must  be  with  us,  we  shall  need,  in  a  large 
measure  in  the  years  that  are  to  come,  as  we  have  in  the 
past,  the  help,  the  encouragement,  the  guidance  that  the 
strong  can  give  the  weak.  Thus  helped,  we  of  both  races  in 
the  South  soon  shall  throw  off  the  shackles  of  racial  and 
sectional  prejudice  and  rise,  as  Harvard  University  has  risen 
and  as  we  all  should  rise,  above  the  clouds  of  ignorance,  nar- 
rowness and  selfishness,  into  that  atmosphere,  that  pure 
sunshine,  where  it  will  be  our  highest  ambition  to  serve 
MAN,  our  brother,  regardless  of  race  or  previous  condition." 

III.     WOMEN   WHO    LABOR    FOR   THE    SOCIAL   ADVANCEMENT 

OF  THE   RACE. 

Mrs.  Fannie  Barrier  Williams,  a  member  of  the  Chicago 
Woman's  Club,  and  prominent  among  those  who  are  seek- 
ing to  organize  for  more  effective  work  in  promoting  social 
advancement,  says  that:  "Among  colored  women  the  club 
is  the  effort  of  the  few  competent  in  behalf  of  the  many  in- 
competent. The  club  is  one  of  many  means  for  the  social 

uplift  of  the  race The  emancipation  of  the  mind  and 

spirit  of  the  race  could  not  be  accomplished  by  legislation. 
More  time,  more  patience,  more  suffering  and  more  charity 
are  needed  to  complete  the  work  of  emancipation." 

The  first  national  conference  of  colored  women  to  consider 
the  work  of  organization  was  held  in  Boston,  July,  1895,  but 
there  were  clubs  previously,  in  certain  of  the  larger  cities. 
Since  the  movement  to  nationalize  took  shape  in  the  organi- 
zation of  the  National  Association  of  Colored  Women ,  the 
interest  has  increased  annually,  and  local  clubs  have  multi- 
plied till  there  are  at  least  three  hundred  of  such  bodies  in 
the  United  States.  The  object  of  these  clubs  is  not  merely 
social  and  sisterly  intercourse,  but  they  have  well-defined 
aims  which  they  seek  to  attain  by  thoughtful  discussion  and 
active  work  for  the  improvement  of  individual  and  home  life. 
Mrs,  Williams  says  of  them:  "These  club  women  are  stu- 


468  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION. 

dents  of  their  own  social  condition,  and  the  clubs  themselves 
are  schools  in  which  are  taught  and  learned,  more  or  less 
thoroughly,  the  near  lessons  of  living.  All  these  clubs 
have  a  programme  for  study.  In  some  of  the  more  ambi- 
tious ones  literature,  music  and  art  are  studied,  ....  and 
in  all  of  them  race  problems  and  sociological  questions 
directly  related  to  the  condition  of  the  Negro  race  in  Amer- 
ica are  the  principal  subjects  for  study  and  discussion.  .  .  . 
The  lessons  learned  in  the  organizations  all  have  a  direct 
bearing  on  the  social  conditions  of  the  Negro  race.  They 
are  such  lessons  as  are  not  taught  in  the  schools  or  preached 
from  the  pulpits.  Home-making  has  been  new  business  to 
the  great  majority  of  the  women  whom  the  women's  clubs 
aim  to  reach  and  influence.  For  this  reason  the  principal 
object  of  club  studies  is  to  teach  that  homes  are  something 
better  and  dearer  than  rooms,  furniture,  comforts  and  food. 
How  to  make  the  homes  of  the  race  the  shrines  of  all  the 
domestic  virtues  rather  than  mere  shelters,  is  the  important 
thing  that  colored  women  are  trying  to  learn  and  teach 
through  their  club  organizations." 

To  attempt  such  work  is  an  emphatic  declaration  to  man- 
kind that  a  host  of  the  colored  women  of  America  have 
worthy  ambitions  and  lofty  ideals,  and  as  representatives  of 
the  women  of  their  race  they  make  manifest  the  fact  that 
there  are  possibilities  open  to  all  that  are  higher  and  better 
than  mere  menial  service  and  that  state  of  poverty  which  is 
known  as  "living  from  hand-to-mouth."  The  degree  of 
success  attained  in  extending  the  organization  to  cover  such 
a  wide  field,  and  awakening  an  interest  that  is  finding  its 
way  to  a  class  of  women  that  have  been  sadly  in  need  of 
some  regenerating,  quickening  and  elevating  influence, 
is  proof  that  the  longings  and  strivings  of  these  club 
women  are  by  no  means  disproportioned  to  their  powers  of 
achievement. 

Among  the  women  of  the  race  who  are  prominent  in  club 
work  and  are  otherwise  actively  engaged  in  something  de- 


N.  W.  CUNER. 


470  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

signed  to  promote  the  honor  and  welfare  of  their  people,  we 
have  the  names  of  the  following: 

Mrs.  Josephine  St.  Pierre  Ruffin,  of  Boston,  leader  of  the 
club  movement  among  the  colored  women . 

Miss  Mattie  B.  Davis,  president  of  the  Woman's  Club, 
Athens,  Georgia. 

Mrs.  C.  S.  Smith,  of  Nashville,  Tennessee,  late  secretary 
of  the  National  Association  of  Colored  Women. 

Mrs.  Mary  L.  Davenport,  president  of  the  Chicago  Wom- 
an's Conference. 

Mrs.  Mary  Church  Terrell,  president  of  the  National  As- 
sociation of  Colored  Women. 

Mrs.  Helen  Clark,  president  of  the  Washington  (D.  C.) 
Woman's  League. 

Mrs.  Hart,  of  Jacksonville,  Florida,  promoter  of  a  move- 
ment to  erect  monuments  to  commemorate  the  deeds  of  the 
black  soldiers  in  the  Spanish  War. 

S.  J.  Evans  is  the  chief  stenographer  in  one  of  the  largest 
mercantile  houses  in  Chicago,  and  furnishes  a  striking 
example  to  the  young  of  what  may  be  achieved  by  applica- 
tion and  good  conduct. 

IV.    INVENTIVE  GENIUS,   MECHANICAL  SKILL,   ETC. 

The  constructive  genius  of  the  race  cannot  as  yet  number 
many  illustrative  names,  but  there  have  been  occasional  not- 
able manifestations.  In  March,  1902,  the  Woodford  (Ken- 
tucky) Sun  published  the  following  account: 

"Lewis  Harvey,  an  uneducated  eighteen-year-old  Negro 
boy,  living  on  Mr.  Emelius  Morancy's  farm  near  the  river, 
has  shown  remarkable  mechanical  genius  by  constructing, 
without  assistance,  and  with  the  crudest  material,  a  minia- 
ture stationary  steam  engine  that  runs  perfectly.  A  piece 
of  old  pipe,  which  he  inclosed  in  Babbitt  metal,  forms  the 
cylinder;  the  boiler  is  a  large  tin  can  and  the  governor 
is  made  of  a  brass  link  cuff  button.  He  built  the  engine 
after  seeing  several  engines  in  operation.  It  is  certainly  a 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP. 


471 


wonderful  machine.  He  is  now  preparing  to  build  a  larger 
engine,  that  will  have  power  enough  to  operate  a  sewing 
machine. 

"He  also  possesses  remarkable  talent  as  a  wood  carver, 
and  recently  completed  a  very  interesting  walking  stick, 
which  is  a  mass  of  portraits  of  public  men,  animals,  snakes 
and  lizards  carved  in  bold  relief. 

"Lewis  Harvey's  younger  brother,   Will  Harvey,   aged 


SUMNBK  HIGH  SCHOOL,  ST.  LOUIS,  MISSOURI. 

fifteen,  is  gifted  with  his  pencil  and  can  sketch  crayon  por- 
traits and  landscape  views  with  rare  fidelity.  There  are  two 
other  brothers,  and  all  four  of  them  are  talented  musicians, 
performing  upon  a  variety  of  instruments.  They  are  sons  of 
James  Harvey.  Their  mother  is  a  Mexican . ' ' 

James  Harvey,  the  father,  was  for  a  long  time  the  engineer 
in  a  large  distillery  near  Frankfort,  and  was  regarded  as  a 
natural  mechanic.  He  was  accustomed  to  making  neces- 

30 


472  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION. 

sary  repairs  on  any  machinery  which  he  might  have  in 
charge. 

Benjamin  Danneker,  born  in  Maryland  in  1831,  was 
another  man  of  his  race — he  was  the  son  of  a  native  African — 
who  was  remarkable  for  diversified  talent.  He  was  a  math- 
ematical and  mechanical  genius,  and  had  a  wide  acquaint- 
ance with  general  literature.  With  imperfect  tools  and  a 
watch  for  a  model  he  constructed  a  clock;  amused  himself  by 
stating  mathematical  problems  and  their  solution  in  rhyme; 
devoted  himself  to  astronomical  studies  till  he  could  calculate 
an  eclipse;  and  for  ten  or  twelve  years  he  prepared  and  pub- 
lished annually  an  almanac;  accompanied  the  commissioners 
to  run  the  lines  of  the  District  of  Columbia,  on  their  invitation; 
kept  himself  acquainted  with  everything  of  importance  that 
was  passing  in  the  United  States,  and  was  a  pleasing  conver- 
sationalist. He  lived  a  somewhat  retired  life,  and  was 
always  modest  in  deportment,  but  so  striking  were  his  talents 
and  in  general  so  usefully  employed  that  he  came  to  be 
known  in  Kurope,  as  well  as  in  America,  as  a  most  intel- 
lectual and  distinguished  man. 

One  of  the  prodigies  of  the  eighteenth  century  was  a  native 
African,  Thomas  Fuller,  brought  to  Virginia  and  sold  into 
slavery — an  untaught  mathematician  of  the  most  extraordi- 
nary powers.  A  Boston  paper,  noticing  his  death  in  De- 
cember, 1790,  said  of  him:  "Had  his  opportunities  of  im- 
provement been  equal  to  those  of  thousands  of  his  fellow- 
men,  neither  the  Royal  Society  of  London,  the  Academy  of 
Science  at  Paris,  nor  even  a  Newton  himself  need  have  been 
ashamed  to  acknowledge  him  a  brother  in  science." 

V.    HOW   MELBOURN  AND    OTHERS   REGARDED  COLONIZATION 

IN  LIBERIA,  AND  WHAT  TIME  HAS  DISCLOSED 

AS  TO  THAT  SCHEME. 

Discussing  the  question  as  to  the  difficulties  then  in  the 
way  of  freeing  the  slaves  (about  eighty  years  ago) ,  Melbourn 
says:  "It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  neither  Thornton  nor 


JOHN  M.  LANGSTON. 
Ex-Mmister  to  Hayti. 


474  THE    NEGRO    IN    RE  INFLATION,  ' 

Lundy  (two  scholarly  and  philanthropic  gentlemen  who  were 
his  friends),  noticed  the  Colonization  Society  as  a  scheme 
which  promised  any  benefit  to  the  black  man  of  America. 
Hence  I  inferred  that  they  did  not  anticipate  any  good  from 
that  project,  and  I  afterward  ascertained  that  that  inference 
was  correct;  in  which  opinion  I  now  entirely  concur.  That 
the  society  can  ever  effect  the  emancipation  of  the  Negro 
race  is  so  obviously  absurd  that  no  man  who  has  any  brains 
can  fail  of  perceiving  it.  As  a  means  of  extending  Chris- 
tianity and  the  arts  of  civilization  in  Western  Africa  it  may 
be  beneficial;  but  in  my  judgment  it  will  retard,  as  by  many 
it  was  intended  to  retard,  the  liberation  of  the  slaves  in  the 
United  States.  .  .-  .  The  project  is  universally  unpop- 
ular with  the  colored  people  of  America.  They  regard 
transportation  to  Africa  as  a  banishment  from  their  native 
land  to  an  unhealthy,  savage  country.  The  idea  is  to  many 
more  terrible  than  death  itself. 

"In  the  year  1816,  a  few  days  after  the  Colonization  So- 
ciety was  organized  in  Washington,  I  went  in  the  stage  from 
that  city  to  Richmond,  Virginia.  The  weather  was  pleasant, 
and  for  the  sake  of  viewing  the  country  I  rode  a  part  of  the 
way  on  the  box  with  the  driver,  who  was  a  Negro. 
Though  a  very  sensible  man  this  driver  was  a  slave,  but  he 
had  heard  of  the  Colonization  Society  and  its  objects.  He 
soon  began  to  make  some  inquiries  of  me  about  it.  In  turn, 
I  asked  him  what  he  thought  of  the  plan.  He  said  he  did  not 
like  it.  I  expressed  surprise  at  his  answer,  for  at  that  time 
I  really  thought  favorably  of  the  project.  I  suggested  to  my 
companion  that  if  all  the  colored  people  in  this  country  were 
set  free,  such  was  the  prejudice  against  color  that  they  could 
never  acquire  equal  standing  with  the  whites;  that  in  all  the 
free  States  they  were  treated  as  an  inferior  race  of  beings; 
that  they  were  excluded  from  all  offices  of  honor  and  profit; 
and  that  the  most  worthy  colored  man  was  not  permitted  to 
come  to  the  table  and  eat  with  the  meanest  white  man;  that 
in  Liberia  it  would  be  entirely  different;  that  competition  for 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  475 

wealth,  promotion  and  honor  would  be  as  open  to  the  black 
man  as  to  the  white  man. 

"He  answered  that  he  had  reason  to  believe  Africa  was  a 
barren  country — that  he  knew  it  was  a  savage  country,  with 
a  most  unhealthy  climate,  entirely  unsuited  to  the  constitu- 
tion of  Americans;  .  .  .  and  that  the  Negro  loved  the 
soil  on  which  he  was  born  as  well  as  the  white  man,  and  that 
he  could  not  endure  the  idea  of  banishment  for  life  from  his 
native  country." 

Helpless  as  the  prospect  of  liberation  seemed  to  all  men 
then,  it  was  but  little  more  than  forty  years  till  the  slaves 
were  freed,  and  the  American  people  were  confronted  with  a 
great  problem — that  of  adjusting  the  relations  of  two  distinct 
and  diverse  races  of  freemen  intermingled,  and  involved  in 
some  antagonisms  created  by  the  great  war  and  the  legisla- 
tion which  followed  it.  Various  schemes  for  settling  the 
race  problem  by  separating  the  races  have  been  suggested — 
one  of  which  is  the  removal  of  the  colored  people  to  another 
clime,  there  to  form  them  into  a  distinct  and  homogeneous 
commonwealth.  One  great  and  sufficient  objection  to  this 
project,  though  it  has  been  advocated  by  good  and  able  men, 
is  found  in  the  words  quoted  above:  ''The  Negro  loves  the 
soil  on  which  he  was  born  as  well  as  the  white  man,  and  he 
could  not  endure  the  idea  of  banishment  for  life  from  his 
native  country.  The  thought  would  be  to  many  more  terri- 
ble than  death  itself." 

All  schemes  looking  to  removal  and  the  formation  of  dis- 
tinct colored  communities,  whether  in  a  foreign  land  or  in 
any  particular  State  or  Territory  of  the  Union,  have  come  to 
be  regarded  as  impracticable,  if  not  utterly  chimerical.  The 
race,  as  it  exists  among  us,  has  risen  from  barbarism  through 
contact  with  the  whites,  which  thoughtful  Negroes  them- 
selves regard  as  some  compensation  for  two  hundred  and 
forty  years  of  slavery;  and  those  who  have  given  existing 
conditions  the  most  careful  study,  conclude  that  if  the  race  is 
to  continue  to  advance  it  must  maintain  its  present  relations 


476  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION. 

with  the  ever-dominant  Anglo-Saxon.  That  wholesale  emi- 
gration and  a  separate  and  independent  existence  as  a  people 
would  be  a  serious  interruption  to  their  progress,  intellectual, 
moral  and  material,  seems  to  be  borne  out  by  the  result 
made  in  Liberia. 

Without  entering  into  the  details  of  the  history  of  that 
commonwealth,  we  may  note  some  facts  from  which  the  intel- 
ligent reader  will  reach  the  conclusion  that  American  Negroes 
have  a  better  future  on  American  soil  than  would  be  possible 
to  them  as  a  separate  race  on  the  west  coast  of  Africa — or, 
indeed,  anywhere  else.  The  government  of  Liberia  is 
modeled  on  that  of  the  United  States.  Its  executive  head 
is  a  president  elected  by  the  people;  its  Congress  consists  of 
a  Senate  and  a  Lower  House — eight  senators  elected  for  four 
years  and  thirteen  representatives  elected  for  three  years;  it 
has  a  Supreme  Court,  and  the  president  has  a  cabinet  of  the 
American  type. 

It  was  founded  in  1822,  the  territory  allotted  to  the  f reed- 
men  of  America  being  in  extent  about  the  size  of  the  two 
states  New  Hampshire  and  New  Jersey,  and  twenty-five 
years  afterward  it  was  declared  an  independent  republic. 
Fifty-eight  years  after  its  founding  the  population  of  civilized 
Negroes  was  about  18,000,  with  about  1,000,000  half-wild 
natives.  Some  of  the  latter  were  adopting  a  settled  life  and 
conforming  to  the  habits  of  their  civilized  countrymen.  One 
writer  (who  is  in  the  main  corroborated  by  various  others) 
says  that  "socially  and  politically  the  State  cannot  be  pro- 
nounced a  marked  success.  The  Negroes  of  America  display 
little  desire  to  throw  in  their  fortunes  with  it,  now  they  are 
free  to  go  whither  they  list,  nor  do  the  barbarous  tribes  on 
the  border  of  the  republic  seem  to  admire  this  imitation  of  a 
white  man's  government  which  for  eighty  years  has  been 
presented  to  them.  There  is  now  and  again  a  small  immi- 
gration from  the  United  States,  but  Liberian  civilization,  cut 
off  from  the  benefit  of  intercourse  with  a  higher  and  broader 
culture,  is  apt  to  deteriorate,  while  neither  the  climate  nor 


H.  A.  PUCKER. 
Collector  Internal  Revenue,  Atlanta,  Georgia. 


478  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

the  laws  and  social  surroundings  are  ever  likely  to  attract 
many  white  men  to  its  shores.  Its  finances  are  badly  man- 
aged, so  that  it  is  hardly  able  to  meet  the  interest  on  a  public 
debt  contracted  long  ago,  to  say  nothing  of  lessening  the 
principal;  and  internal  disorder  is  too  often  the  rule.  It  shows 
an  appreciation,  however,  of  education  and  religion,  and  a 
keen  desire  to  stand  well  in  the  opinion  of  the  powers  with 
which  it  has  relations  by  accredited  representatives." 

vi.   HIGH  TRIBUTES  TO  THE  MANHOOD  OF  SOME  ' 

NEGRO   SLAVES. 

When  Henry  Clay,  December  9,  184-1,  freed  one  of  .his 
Negro  men  he  said  in-the  article  of  manumission:  "For  and 
in  consideration  cf  the  fidelity,  attachment  and  services  of 
Charles  Dupey,  and  my  esteem  and  regard  for  him,  I  do 
hereby  liberate,"  etc. 

The  Hon.  Abel  P.  Upshur,  of  Virginia,  for  a  while  Secre- 
tary of  the  Navy,  and  afterward  Secretary  of  State  under 
President  Tyler  (1841-5),  left,  in  an  article  of  manumission, 
a  remarkable  tribute  to  the  intelligence  and  character  of  the 
Negro  slave  whom  he  freed.  "I  emancipate  and  set  free," 
says  the  document,  "my  servant,  David  Rich,  and  direct 
my  executors  to  give  him  one  hundred  dollars.  I  recommend 
him  in  the  strongest  manner  to  the  respect,  esteem  and  con- 
fidence of  any  community  in  which  he  may  happen  to  live. 
He  has  been  my  slave  for  twenty-four  years,  during  all  of 
which  time  he  has  been  trusted  to  every  extent  and  in  every 
respect.  My  confidence  in  him  has  been  unbounded.  His 
relation  to  myself  and  family  has  been  such  as  to  afford  him 
daily  opportunities  to  deceive  and  injure  us,  and  yet  he  has 
never  been  detected  in  any  serious  fault,  nor  even  in  an  in- 
tentional breach  of  the  decorums  of  his  station.  His  intel- 
ligence is  of  a  high  order,  his  integrity  above  all  suspicion, 
and  his  sense  of  right  and  propriety  correct  and  even  refined. 
I  feel  that  he  is  justly  entitled  to  carry  this  certificate  from 
me  in  the  new  relations  which  he  must  now  form.  It  is  due 


BLANCHE  K.  BRUCE. 
Ex-United  States  Senator  from  Mississippi. 


480  THE    NEGRO    IN   REVELATION. 

to  his  long  and  faithful  services,  and  to  the  sincere  and  steady 
friendship  which  I  bear  him.  In  the  uninterrupted  and  con- 
fidential intercourse  of  twenty-four  years  I  have  never  given 
him,  nor  had  occasion  to  give  him,  an  unpleasant  word.  I 
know  no  man  who  has  fewer  faults  or  more  excellences  than 
he." 

REV.    MOSES    DICKSON. 

Rev.  Moses  Dickson  was  born  in  the  city  of  Cincinnati, 
Ohio,  April  5,  1824.  He  was  the  son  of  Robert  and  Han- 
nah Dickson,  natives  of  Virginia.  His  father  died  in  1832, 
and  his  mother  in  1838.  He  learned  the  barber's  trade 
while  he  was  a  young  man  and  at  the  same  time  attended 
school  and  mastered  all  the  branches  of  study  that  were 
taught  at  that  early  day.  At  the  age  of  sixteen  he  secured 
employment  on  a  steamboat  and  for  three  years  traveled  in 
various  boats  upon  the  different  Southern  rivers  and  bayous. 
In  these  travels  through  the  South  he  saw  slavery  in  all  its 
aspects,  and  what  he  saw  in  these  three  years  of  travel  made 
a  lasting  impression  on  him  and  determined  him  to  devote 
his  best  efforts  to  secure  freedom  for  his  race.  He  had  made 
the  acquaintance  of  a  few  true  and  trusty  young  men,  who 
were  ready  to  join  with  him  in  any  plan  that  seemed  feasible 
and  likely  to  assure  freedom  to  the  slaves.  Eleven  of  these 
young  men  met  with  him  and  agreed  to  form  an  organization 
for  that  purpose.  Knowing  that  the  work  was  one  of  great 
magnitude  and  would  require  time,  courage  and  patience, 
they  took  two  years  to  study  over  it  and  planned  to  meet 
again  in  St.  Louis  on  the  12th  of  August,  1846. 

Mr.  Dickson  embarked  on  the  steamer  Oronoco  at  New 
Orleans  in  May,  1844,  and  made  a  trip  to  St.  Louis,  where 
he  remained  during  the  summer.  He  then  traveled  for  two 
years  through  Iowa,  Illinois,  Wisconsin  and  other  Northern 
States,  and  in  August,  1846,  was  in  St.  Louis  prepared  to 
meet  his  friends  with  an  outline  of  the  plan  to  be  submitted 
to  them.  The  twelve  met  on  the  second  Tuesday  in  August 
and  Mr.  Dickson  unfolded  to  them  his  plan  which  was 


REV.  MOSES  DICKSON. 
Founder  of  the  International  Order  of  Twelve. 


482  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION, 

adopted.  This  meeting  resulted  in  the  formation  of  the 
u Knights  of  Liberty."  The  twelve  organizers  went  actively 
to  work  and  formed  local  organizations  in  every  slave  State  ex- 
cept Missouri  and  Texas.  Mr.  Dickson  remained  the  head  of 
the  Order  with  headquarters  at  St.  Louis.  The  Knights  of 
Liberty  were  not  to  commence  active  operation  for  ten  years 
from  the  time  of  organization,  the  intervening  time  to  be 
used  in  making  preparations.  When  the  ten  years  were 
ended,  in  1856,  the  trend  of  events  was  such  that  it  was  not 
thought  advisable  to  carry  out  the  plans  of  the  organization, 
inasmuch  as  it  seemed  probable  at  that  time  that  freedom 
would  come  in  the  natural  course  of  events. 

During  the  ten  years  of  preparation  and  up  to  the  break- 
ing out  of  the  war,  the  Knights  of  Liberty,  in  connection 
with  their  other  work,  were  actively  interested  in  the  "Under 
Ground  Railroad,"  and  in  ten  years  transported  more  than 
70,000  slaves  from  bondage  to  freedom.  The  organization 
was  so  compact  and  its  affairs  so  secretly  conducted  that 
for  years  nobody  knew  the  names  of  the  original  twelve 
organizers,  or  that  such  an  organization  existed.  The 
methods  by  which  the  Knights  of  Liberty  expected  to  ac- 
complish their  object  will  probably  never  be  known,  but  the 
extent  of  the  movement  and  the  secrecy  maintained  proves 
Mr.  Dickson  to  have  been  a  past  master  in  the  art  of  organ- 
ization. 

Mr.  Dickson  was  actively  engaged  in  the  field  during  the 
war,  and  was  in  thirteen  hard-fought  battles,  returning  home 
in  1864:  without  a  scratch  from  the  enemy's  bullets. 

After  the  war  he  turned  his  energies  and  efforts  to  the 
education  of  the  freedmen  and  their  children.  He  led  a 
powerful  lobby  to  Jefferson  City,  Missouri,  and  worked  hard 
for  the  establishment  of  schools  for  colored  children.  His 
efforts  were  successful,  and,  under  the  administration  of 
Governor  McClurg,  the  present  school  laws  of  Missouri  were 
adopted.  This  being  achieved,  the  next  movement  was  to 


IN    HISTORY,    AND    IN    CITIZENSHIP.  438 

procure  colored  teachers  for  colored  schools,  and  after  a  hard 
fight  he  was  successful  in  that  also. 

He  took  an  active  part  in  the  founding  of  Lincoln  Insti- 
tute, at  Jefferson  City,  Missouri,  and  was  trustee  and  vice- 
president  of  the  board  for  several  years  until  the  success  of 
the  institution  was  assured.  He  has  given  his  time  largely 
since  the  war  to  educational  movements  for  the  benefit  of  the 
colored  race. 

In  1878  he  became  president  of  the  Refugee  Relief  Board 
in  St.  Louis,  and  the  board  under  his  management  cared  for 
about  sixteen  thousand  people.  These  refugees  were  com- 
fortably clothed,  given  provisions  to  last  them  several  months, 
and  forwarded  to  Kansas,  Nebraska,-  Colorado  and  other 
Northern  States,  where  they  settled  and  became  good  citi- 
zens. More  than -ten  thousand  of  these  refugees  >.  settled  in 
Kansas. 

Mr.  Dickson  was  prominent  in  politics  in  his  State. 
He  was  a  delegate-  to  every  Republican  State  Convention  of 
Missouri  from  1864  to  1878,  and  during  several  campaigns 
stumped  the  State  in  the  interest  of  his  party.  He  was 
elector  at  large  on  the  Grant  ticket  in  1872. 

He  was  converted  and  joined  the  A.  M.  B.  Church  in 
1866,  and  in  1867  was  licensed  to  preach.  He  has  held  a 
number  of  large  and  small  charges,  and  was  well  known  as  a 
successful  manager  of  churches,  and  particularly  as  a  church 
builder,  a  debt  payer  and  a  revivalist.  During  his  several 
pastorates  about  fourteen  hundred  persons  have  been  con- 
verted by  him. 

After  the  war,  when  the  work  of  the  u  Knights  of  Liberty" 
was  ended,  he  decided  to  institute  a  beneficial  order  in 
memory  of  the  twelve  original  organizers  of  that  society. 
After  three  years  of  preparation  he  organized,  in  1871,  the 
first  Temple  and  Tabernacle  of  the  ' l  Order  of  Twelve  of  the 
Knights  and  Daughters  of  Tabor,"  which  has  for  its  object 
the  encouragement  of  Christianity,  education,  morality  and 
temperance  among  the  colored  people.  Its  object  is  to  teach 


484  THE    NEGRO    IN    REVELATION. 

the  art  of  governing,  self-reliance  and  true  manhood  and 
womanhood.  Part  of  its  work  is  to  encourage  home-building 
and  the  acquiring  of  wealth.  The  Order,  in  twenty-seven 
years,  has  taken  its  place  with  the  greatest  organizations  of 
the  world.  It  now  has  more  than  sixty  thousand  members, 
and  wields  a  powerful  influence  for  good  among  the  colored 
people. 

Mr.  Dickson  was  married  on  the  5th  of  October,  1848,  to 
Mrs.  Mary  Elizabeth  Peters.  She  died  in  1891.  The  couple 
had  one  child,  Mrs.  Mamie  Augusta  Robinson,  and  one 
grand-child,  who  was  adopted  by  the  Knights  of  Tabor,  and 
bears  the  title  of  ''Princess  of  the  Knights  and  Daughters 
of  Tabor." 

After  a  long  life  spent  in  the  service  of  his  race,  Mr. 
Dickson  died  in  the  early  part  of  1902. 


INDEX. 


PAGE. 

Abbott,  Miss  Helen,    .         .  •'     .      \     •  .        .        .-       .        .  445 

African  Zion  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,       .         .   .      .         .  gg 

Alexander,  Lieut.  John  H.,        .         .         .  •      .  •    .  .  •'      .         .  51 

Allen,  Bishop  Richard,        .  •      .         .                "  .         .    -              /  103 

Allen,  B.  F.,  Sketch  of,               .......        .  .436 

Ames,  Alexander,        ........  43 

Anderson,  Duke  W.,    ....;....  §6 

Anderson,  Louis  B.,     ........  gi 

Answers  to  Question:  "Has  Your  College  Training  Benefited  You?"     .  .     376 

Antoine,  C.  C., .        ...  .62 

Archer,  Hiram  E-,       .........  444 

Archer,  Mrs.  Henrietta  M.,       -.        .        ,        .                 ...        .  .    445 

Arnett,  Bishop  B.  W., 103 

Asbury,  Bishop,    ............  103 

Assessed  Value  of  Real  Estate  Held  by  557  College-bred  Negroes,         .  .     369 

Attucks,  Crispus,         .         .         .         .,.'.'.         .         ....  j.       42 

Babcock,  Primus,        .        .         .  •   .        .        .     ,   .        .        .        .        .      43 

Ball.J.  P., .         .         ...-,.     199 

Barnett,  Ferdinand  L .        .81 

Bassett,  E.  D.,     .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .'-.,.''    .   .      .      62 

Birthplace  of  650  College-bred  Negroes    ....         .         ...         .     334 

Blackshear,  Edward  L.,  Sketch  of,    .        .        .        :'  .        .        .'       .    432 

Blackwell,  William,    .        .         .         .        .        .        ;        .        .        ...      57 

Blind  Tom, ..".'...        .116 

Blocker,  Mrs.  Sarah  A.,      .         .         .       '.         .        ..        .-      ..      x  .       .  .         .     444 
Booker,  Rev.  Dr.  Joseph  A.,  Sketch  of,     .         .         .         .        ,.         .  .     403 

Bouey,  Rev.  H.  N.,  Sketch  of,          . .114 

Bowen,  Capt.  P.  J.,  Sketch  of,    .        .        .        .        .'        .        .        .        ...      53 

Bowles,  Charles, .         ....         .43 

Boyd,  Henry,       .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         ....         .199 

Brown,  Bishop  Morris,        .         .         .         .         ;         .         .         .         .         .         i     103 

Brown,  Bishop  John  M.,     .\  .         .         .         .  ..-.,.     103 

Brown,  Rev.  Dr.  C.  S.,  Sketch  of,     .         .         .        .         .         .         .         .         .     418 

Bruce,  Blanche  K.,      .         *         .         .         .         .....         .         .         .         .       59 

Bruce,  Roscoe  Conkling,    .         .         .         .         .         .  '    :.    ^  -»     -   .  ,      .     '   *      59 

Burns,  Bishop  Francis,  Notice  of,  .     -    .         ...         .         .         .       95 

Burr,  Seymour,    .         .         .         .         .         .         .         ........      43 

Business,  Kinds  of,  According  to  Capital,         .......     159 

Business,  Kinds  of,  According  to  Number  of  Years  Engaged,         .         .         .     169 

485 


486  INDEX. 

PAGE. 

Cain,  Richard  H.,  . 62,103 

Calloway,  Thomas  J.,  on  the  Bestowing  of   a  Harvard  Degree  on  Booker 

Washington,          . 460 

Campbell,  Bishop  Jabez  Pitt,      .         .         .         .  . 103 

Campbell,  Mrs.  Haydee, 445 

Camper,  Miss  Julia  A  ,        .    .     .         .         .         .  • 107 

Candler,  Gov.  Allan  D.,  Speech  of,         .         . 133 

Carmouche,  Lieut.  P.  L-,    .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .  54 

Carroll,  Rev.  Richard,         .....'......  51 

Cassagnac  de,  Paul  Granier,       ..........  117 

Chambers,  Miss  Judith  L.,  Sketch  of,        . .420 

Chesnutt,  Charles  W. ,  Sketch  of,      .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .122 

Chiles,  Nick,  Sketch  of,     .         .         .         .         . 67 

Clark,  Mrs.  Helen,      .         .         . 470 

Clark,  Private, 52 

Clark,  Daniel,  Act  to  Pension, 263 

Cleveland,  President,  Letter  from,     .........  207 

Coburn,  Titus, 43 

Coker,  Rev.  Daniel, 104 

Coleman,J.  D.,  Sketch  of, 417 

College-bred  Negroes,  Important  Offices  Held  by, 317 

College-bred  Negroes,  Literary  Activity  of,       .......  375 

College  Graduates,  Migration  of,       .         .         .         .         .         .        .         .         .  334 

College  Graduates,  Age  at  which  Married, 347 

College-bred  Women  Graduates,       .........  346 

Colored  Women,  National  Conference  of, 467 

Colored  Militia,  States  in  which  Organized,    .......  50 

Colored  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  The 108 

Conjugal  Condition  of  College-bred  Negroes, 348 

Cooper,  E.  E., 62 

Cooper,  Mrs.  Anna  J.,          ...........  445 

Corrothers,  James  D., 121 

Cotton,  Increased  Production  Under  Free  Labor,     ......  458 

Councill,  Prof.  W.  H.,  Speech  in  Philadelphia, 276 

Councill,  Prof.  W.  H.,  mentioned, .         .  438 

Crime  and  Illiteracy,  Whites  and  Blacks  Compared, 280 

Cromwell,  Oliver, .         .         .43 

Curricula  of  Various  Negro  Colleges  and  Universities,     .....  323 

Danneker,  Benjamin,          ...........  472 

Davenport,  Mrs.  Mary  L.,           .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .  470 

Davis,  John, 48 

Davis,  Alexander,       ............  62 

Davis,  Miss  Mattie  B., 470 

Deas,  Edmund  H.,  Sketch  of, 59 

Declarations  Adopted  at  Tuskegee  Conference,        .         .         .                  .         .  199 

De  Grasse,  John  V., 82 

Delaney,  Miss  Emma  B.,  Sketch  of, 106 

De  Large,  Robert  C., 63 

Derham,  James, 82 

Dickerson,  Bishop  Wm.  F., 103 


INDEX.  487 

PAGE. 

Dickson,  Rev.  Moses, 4§0 

Diggs,  James  R.  L .        .         .        .        m        ^        _  425 

Dinkins,  Rev.  Dr.  C.  S.,  Sketch  of, .400 

Disney,  Bishop  Richard  R., 103 

Dorsey,  Rev.  J.  Harry,         .......  64 

Douglass,   Frederick, 77 

Dumas,  Gen.  Alexandre  de  la  Pailleterie, 39 

Dumas,  Alexandre  Davy  de  la  Pailleterie,/*w,       .  117 

Dumas,  Alexandre,  fils, 117 

Dunbar,  Paul  Laurence,  Sketch  of, 119 

Dunn,  Oscar  J., g2 

Dupey,  Charles,  Henry  Clay's  Tribute  to, 478 

Durham,  John  Stephens 116 

Eckstein  Norton  University, 431 

Elliott,  Robert  B .         .         .         .63 

Escridge,  Miss  Hattie  G.,  on  the  Need  of  Negro  Merchants,         .         .         .  147 

Estill,  Monk 45 

Evans,  L.  J.,        ........ 470 

Farms  Owned  by  Negroes,  in  1890, 278 

Fearn,  C.  H.,  on  Negro  Co-operative  Foundry, 164 

Francis,  Dr.  John  R., 82 

Francis,  Mrs.  John  R 445 

Freeman,  Jordan 43 

Fuller,  Thomas, .        .        .        .  472 

Future  of  the  Negro,  Suggestions  and  Answers  to  Questions,        .        .        .  370 

Gaines,  Bishop  Wesley  J.,  Sketch  of, 106 

Gannett,  Deborah, 43 

Garnet,  Belle 82 

Garnett,  Henry  W., ^2 

Gleaves,  Richard  H., 62 

Grady,  Henry  W. ,  Speech  in  New  York,  Extracts  from,         ....  215 

Grady,  Henry  W.,  Speech  in  Boston,  Extracts  from,       .....  216 

Grant,  Bishop  Abraham,  Sketch  of, 106 

Green,  Col.  Christopher, 42 

Griggs,  Rev.  Dr.  A.,  Sketch  of,        . 113 

Grove,  Jack, 44 

Ham,  Descendants  of, 33 

Hamet,  Revolutionary  Pensioner,     .........  43 

Haralson,  Jere, 63 

Hart,  Mrs., 470 

Harvey,  Mrs.  Daisy  Miller,  Sketch  of,      ....'...  400 

Harvey,  James, 471 

Harvey,  Lewis,    .............  470 

Harvey,  Will, -.         .         .        • 471 

Hathaway,  James  Shelton,  Sketch  of., 426 

Heredia,  Jose  Maria 116 

Hoffman,  John  Wesley,  Sketch  of,    .         .        .         .        .         v  ~    .        .        .413 
31 


488  INDEX. 

Hoke,  Rev.  Dr.  J.  H.,  Sketch  of, ...  110 

"Honey  Chile,"  a  Poem  by  Miss  Inez  C.  Parker,     .         .         .         .         .         .  128 

"Hope,"  a  Poem  by  Miss  Inez  C.  Parker, 127 

Hope,  John,  on  the  Meaning  of  Business,         .......  140 

Hope,  John,  Sketch  of,       . 403 

Howard,  Rev.  W.J.,  Sketch  of, .         .  96 

Howard  University,    .        .         .        .        .         .         .         .         .         .         ...  405 

Howe,  Cato, 43 

Howell,  Hon.  Clark,  Letter  to  New  York  World, 208 

Humphrey,  Col.  David,     .         .         .        .         .        .         .         .         .        .        .42 

Jackson,  Mary  C.,        ............  445 

Jackson,  John  H., 422 

Jasper,  Rev.  John,  Sketch  of,    .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .         .  89 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  and  Julius  Melbourn,         .         .         .         .         .         .         .  201 

Jenkins,  Samuel,         .                 42 

Johnson,  John,    .         .        .        . 48 

Johnson,  Rev.  E.  P.,  Sketch  of, 101 

Jonah,  Jeremy 43 

Jones,  Rev.  Absalom,         . 104 

Jones,  Rev.  Dr.  Joseph  E. ,  Sketch  of ,       .         . 105 

Jones,  Miss  Anna,       ............  444 

Kealing,  H.  T., .62 

Kenney,  Mrs.  Maria  T.,  Sketch  of, 404 

Kentucky  State  Normal  and  Industrial  School,       ......  428 

Kimble,  Miss  Mary  C.,  Sketch  of, 429 

Kirby,  Rev.  Dr.  J.  W 98 

Langston,  John  M 62 

Latham,  Lambo, 43 

Lee,  Rev.  Dr.  James  W. ,  Speech  Before  Current  Topics  Club,        .        .        .  228 

Ij»e,  Rev.  Dr.  James  W.,  Speech  Before  St.  Louis  Evangelical  Alliance,        .  240 

Lethierre,  Guillaume  Guillen, 115 

Lew,  Barzillai, 43 

Lewis,  Edmonia,         . .  115 

Liberia,  Melbourn's  Views  of, 474 

Lindsay,  H.  E.,  on  Negro  Business  Men  in  Columbia,  South  Carolina,         .  148 

L'Ouverture,  Dominique  Francois  Toussaint, 39 

Love,  Miss  Lulu,        ............  444 

Lynch,  John  R., 51,63 

Lyons,  Judson  W., 65,280 

Lytle,  Miss  Lutie  A., 82 

McKee,  Col.  John, 196 

McKinley,  Dr.  J.  Frank, 82 

Maceo,  Antonio,          ........  51 

Maceo,  Jose,        ..........  51 

Marshall,  Col.  J.    R., 61 

Martin,  W.  L., .62 

Mayo,  Wm.  H., 445 

Meharry  Medical   College, .  399 


INDEX. 


489 


--   ,.  PAGE. 

Melbourn,  Julius 48-201-472 

Miles,  Rev.  W.  H. log 

Miles,  Alexander lgg 

Mitchell,  John  G., 62 

Morris,  Robert t        ,  QI 

Murphy,  W.  O. ,  on  the  Negro  Grocer,                                -;  151 

Nash,  Charles  E.,       .        .  "„  '.    '•  -.        ...  49 

National  Baptist   Publishing  Board,        »     :  ,        .        .        .  399 

Nazery,  Bishop  Willis, 103 

Nelson,  Ida  Gray,        .....•;..  83 

Negroes  in  Northern  and  Other  Colleges, 327 

Negro  Soldiers,  Number  of,  During  Revolutionary  War,        .        .        .        .  42 

"        Number  of,  in  Civil  War,        . 49 

"        Enlistments  and  Service  in  Spanish  War,     ....  50 

"      Lawyer  in  Paris,  France,        .        .  •              .    '    .        .        .        .        .  81 

"      Divine  in  London,  England,       •  .        .        .        .        ...        .  87 

"      Churches,  Church  Membership,  etc.,    .        .         .        .       ,. '  .87 

"      Business  Men  in  Atlanta,  Georgia,         .        .        .         ...        .  158 

"      Business  Men  fey  States, "   .        .  164 

"      Business  Men  According  to  Occupations,      .,._•;.        .       ".        .  166 

"      Merchants,  Twenty  Cities  Having  Twenty  or  More,    ....  182 

"      Merchants,  Class  of  Business  of,  in  Twenty-four  Cities,      .        .        .  182 

"      Beneficiaries  of  Schools  in  Georgia,      .        .        . '     _.        .        .        .  288 

"      Population  and  Wealth,  Increase  of,     .......  299 

"      Problems,  Annual  Conferences  Provided  to  Consider,         .         .         .  317 

"      College  Graduates,  Number  of,               .        .        .        .    ,    .        .        .  328 

"             "              "            According  to  Years  and  Institutions,     .         .         .  333 
"      Graduates  from  White  Colleges,     .        .        .        ......        .330 

"      College  Graduates,  Childhood  and  Youth  of,  .        .        .        .336 

"           "                "            Occupations  of,       .        .        .        ^.       .        .         .  349 

Olsson,  Jessie  Macaulay, .     116 

Paine,  Moses  U.,        .       ...     . .        *        . 109 

Parker,  Miss  Inez  C.,  Sketch  of,        .    :    .        .        .-       ,      ,  ,'       .        .         .125 
Parrish,  Rev.  C.  H.,    .         .         .         ;         .         .        ,._,,.        ,         .         .433 
Payne,  Bishop  D.  Alexander,     .         .  •  .         .        >       .^.        .         .         .     101 

Pegues,  Albert  W.,  Sketch  of,  /        .      --'.        .,.,.-        -393 

Penn,  Dr.  Wm.  F.,  Sketch  of,          ./    ......        .        .        .      83 

Periodicals  Published  by  Negroes,     .        .        .       ".-    ...        ....      70 

Philippines,  Negro  Troops  Serving  in,    > .     ,  ,        .  -••    .  .        I        .        .         .      53 
Phillips,  Rev.  D.  W.,        .      ..        '.."....'.        .        .        .     395 

Pinchback,  P.  B.  S.,         »     .  .        .        .        .        .     ...        .        .  .62 

Placidio,      .        .        .        ...        ...      '.. 116 

Poor,  Salem,        *     '  .        .    '    ^      -.      -.     - .        *        .        .        .         .         .43 
Poushkin,  Alexander,        .        .  .     /*'        .       ..        ....     116 

Prince,  a  Soldier t\      '*  ^     •*        .        .        .        •      43 

Pierce,  Rev.  Dr.  Charles  L  ,       .        .        .        ^        >        .  -     .        .        .        .430 

Quinn,  Bishop  Wm.  Paul L .     .•  *        .        .        .        .103 


490  INDEX. 

PAGE 

Rainey,  Joseph  H., 64 

Rausier,  Alonzo  J 62,66 

Rapier,  James  T., 66 

Ray,  Miss  Charlotte  E.,     .         .         .         .        .         .         .        .        .  -       .         .81 

Reddick,  Mrs.  Hannah  Howell,  Sketch  of .423 

Reddick,  M.  W., 424 

Revels,  Hiram  R.,       .....' 62 

Rich,  David,  Upshur's  Tribute  to, .478 

Richards,  Prince 43 

Richardson,  Mrs.,       .         .         .        .    .    .      '  . 79 

Roberts,  Bishop  John  Wright, 95 

Roberts,  Robert  R., .103 

Roberts,  Rev.  Dr.  N.  F.,  Sketch  of,         . .392 

Robinson,  Mrs.  Rachel  E.  R.  Sketch  of, 420 

Rock,  John  R., 82 

Roger  Williams  University,        .  .         .         .  .         .         .         .     395 

Rucker,  H.  A., ...         ...         .62 

Ruffin,  Mrs.  Josephine  St.  Pierre 470 

Russwurm,  John  Brown,     ...........     328 

Salem,  Peter, 43 

Scarborough,  W.  S., •     .         .         .442 

Scott,  I.  B.,          . .62 

Scott,  Bishop  Levi 95 

Screws,  Maj.  W.  W.,  on  Work  Done  by  the  Tuskegee  School,       .  .     300 

Scruggs,  Enos  L,.,  Sketch  of,     .        .        .        .        .        .     •  .        .        .        .419 

Shaw  University, 387 

Shorter,  Bishop  James  A. ,          .         .-'•'.        .         .         .         .         .         .         .     103 

Shurtliff,  Robert, 43 

Siboney,  Reminiscence  of, .         .         .         .52 

Simpson,  Joshua  B.,  Sketch  of, 421 

Smalls,  Robert, 49 

Smith,  John  H 62 

Smith,  Mrs.  C.  S., 470 

Stewart,  McCants,  Sketch  of, 85 

Stillwell,  Rev.  W.  M., 89 

Stockton,  Ben, 44 

Sweetsa  Language,  Bible  Translated  Into,       .         .         .-..'.         .         .86 

Tanner,  Bishop  Benjamin  T.,  Sketch  of,  ....     104 

Tanner,  Henry  Ossawa,      ...........     115 

Taylor,  Samuel  Coleridge,  ..........     116 

Tenney,  E.  P.,  Quoted .86 

Terrell,  Mrs.  Mary  Church, .  .470 

"The  Bucks," .44 

Thomas,  Wm.  Hannibal, .49 

Thomas,  A.  S., .199 

Thompson,  Grace  J.,  Sketch  of, .394 

Titus,  Israel 42 

Totten,  Rev.  Father, .65 

Truth,  Sojourner ...      76 


INDEX.  491 

PAGE. 

Turner,  Bishop  Henry  M.,  Sketch  of,        ........  98 

Turner,  J.  Milton 62 

Turner,  Benjamin  S., 63 

Tuskegee  Normal  and  Industrial  Institute, 291 

Uncles,  Rev.  C.  R., 65 

Vanderhorst,  R.  H., 108 

Vass,  Rev.  Dr.  S.  N.,  Sketch  of,        .        . 100 

Walker,  E.  G.,     .         .         .        . 81 

Walker,  Rev.  C.  T 61 

Waller,  Capt.  John  L., 51 

\Valler,  Miss  Erne,  Sketch  of,    .         . 131 

Waller,  Rev.  Garnett  Russell,  Sketch  of,         .        .        .        .        .        .        .110 

Walls,  John  T., 63 

Ward,  Bishop  Thomas  M.  D 103 

Washington,  Booker  T.,     .        .        .-*-.»-.        .        .        .        .210 

"  "  on  the  Negro  and  Signs  of  Civilization,          .        .     252 

"  "  on  the  Negro's  Part  in  the  South's  Upbuilding,      .     255 

«'  "  on  the  Negro  and  His  Relation  to  the  South,         .     260 

"  "  on  Industrial  Training,     .        .        .        .         .        .     265 

"  "  on  Tuskegee  Normal  and  Industrial  Institute,        .     291 

"  "  Address  in  Carnegie  Hall,  New  York,     .         .         .     307 

"  "  on  the  Negro's  Economic  Value,      ,  447 

"  "  Address  on  Receiving  Harvard  Diploma,       .        .     464 

Washington,  Mrs.  Booker  T.,    .        .V       .        .     ..-"'"'•'-        ....    445 

Waters,  Bishop  Edward,     .        .>       .   . , ".        .     -'.        *     /.        •        •        •     103 

Wayman,  Bishop  Alexander  W.,        .  .     '.        ."     .*  ; 103 

West,  Narcissa,  Sketch  of,     ,    .  %      .        .',      .      .'...    -  .        •  •        .85 

Wheatley,  Phillis,       .         .        .        ^ .  '     .      "* •    -.        /       .        .        .         -118 

Wheaton.J.  Frank, 82 

"When  Daddy  Plays  de  Banjo,"  Dialect  Poem,  Miss  Parker,        ...     129 

White,  Rev.  C.  P.  T •  •  •        •        •        •      69 

Whitted,  Rev.  Dr.  John  A.,  Sketch  of,     .         /      •  '•  ,  •        •        •         -97 

Wilcox,  Samuel  T.,     .         .         .        .-        .        .     \ .  '.  ...             199 

Williams,  George  W.,  Quoted,           .        .        .'      *  .  .        .        •        42,117 

Williams,  S.  Laing,    .        ..',.'.        .  N  .    "  .        .        .         .      81 

Williams,  Dr.  Daniel  H.,   ^      .        '        '        •        ;  '    :  ....      82 

Williams,  Mrs.  Fannie  Barrier,          .         .     ^  .    '     .  M  .  .         .         .      116,467 

Wilson,  Edward,    x    "./ V.        .,.".. 82 


Wood,  Rev.  N.  B., 


62 


Wright,  Richard  R.,  ../     ...        .        .        .        •        •        •        51,444 

Young,  Col.  James  H.,        .        .-    ^.        .        .      .*. 51 

Young,  Maj.  Charles  E.,     .';.     /.''.-..«-.    .....      51 


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